Fire crews allow six-mile grass blaze near Pontsticill to burn

A huge grass fire stretching up to six miles (10km) near Merthyr Tydfil has been allowed to burn amid fears over the safety of crews.

The blaze near Pontsticill Reservoir has been burning since 10:40 GMT on Monday and has been tackled by more than 20 firefighters.

But South Wales Fire and Rescue has pulled out amid fears for its crews in the dark.

A fire service spokeswoman said it was hoped the blaze would burn itself out.

It said earlier on Monday its crews had attended 180 grass fires since 1 March.

Over the weekend crews were called to 54 deliberately started grass fires in south Wales, 40 on Sunday alone.