AROUND 70 firefighters spent more than seven hours tackling a huge gorse fire at Whiteworks, near Princetown on Easter Friday.

The moorland blaze was over four miles long, and a total of 12 fire crews were called to the scene, including Tavistock, Princetown, Yelverton, Bere Alston and Okehampton.

The fire began at around 11.30am on Easter Friday and is thought to have begun when swailing —burning of scrubland to improve an area for grazing — got out of control.

Bere Alston sub-officer Colin Shaw said the isolated nature of the area meant his crew had to walk about three miles to even get to the fire. With no supply of water at the site, firefighters had to use beaters to tackle the gorse fire.

'The wind was always changing direction, so it was pushing the fire one way and another,' said Mr Shaw. The Bere Alston crew were one of the last to leave the scene at around 7pm.