FIREFIGHTERS fought a huge grass fire in Marsden last night.

Crews from Huddersfield, Meltham, Slaithwaite, Holmfirth, Brighouse, Elland, Leeds and Dewsbury fought the blaze which affected half a square kilometre of grassland above the A640 Buckstones Road.

They used two hose reels , specialist support units and 14 grass beaters to extinguish the fire which started just before 7pm.

Teams worked throughout the night to contain the blaze with the incident being officially closed at 2am but a crew from Huddersfield returned to the scene this morning to ensure it had not restarted.

A spokesman from Huddersfield fire station said: “It was difficult in such hot conditions and the landscape is very dry particularly the bracken which is like tinder on top. This was our first major grass fire of the summer sparked by the dry spell.”