Firefighters, helicopters and beaters spent more than five hours fighting a moorland fire near Saddleworth Moor today.

At its worst the blaze covered an area 2km x 2km, sending billows of smoke across the sky.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) were called to the spot near Dovestones Reservoir, between Holme and Greenfield, at 2.39pm.

Ella Stacey, 27, who works at a nearby business, was the one who called 999. She described to the Manchester Evening News how the blaze spread very quickly.

Moorland fire at the foot of Saddleworth Moor. Photo: Matthew Lee Tierney

"When I first saw it the fire was the size of a few cars, a few minutes later it was the size of a football pitch," she said.

“Five minutes after that and it was very, very big. What was scary is it was so close to the picnic area, you could hear it crackling."

More than 80 firefighters and 11 engines from at least five fire stations across Lancashire attended the scene. They were assisted by two helicopters from Oldham Mountain Rescue that were used to drop gallons of water on the blaze from above.

At one point beaters were seen helping to control the spread.

GMFRS said the fire grew to 4km² after two smaller fires combined.

Firefighter tackle the moorland blaze at the foot of Saddleworth Moor. Photo: Vincent Cole MEN

By 7pm it had started to die down and at just after 8pm GMFRS tweeted: "The fire at Dovestones Reservoir is down to one sector with three fire engines, a wildfire unit along with United Utilities and air support from still in attendance. Crews will remain at the incident for the next hour to monitor hotspots but the worst is over."

Several passengers of aeroplanes landing at Manchester Airport tweeted their shock at the sight of smoke reaching so high up into the sky.

A view of the moorland fire from an aeroplane landing at Manchester Airport. Photo: @CaptFlameRate

Dom Goggins said: “Just flew over this about 20 mins on the way back from Amsterdam. Looked pretty dramatic even from that high up, felt like the smoke reached all the way up to the plane.”

It is unclear at the moment what started the blaze which happened on the warmest day of the year so far and the hottest April day for almost 70 years.