Firefighters extinguish grass blaze near Heathrow

Firefighters have successfully doused a grass fire the size of four football pitches close to Heathrow Airport.

Five hectares of grass and scrubland caught light in Feltham at 4pm on Saturday and burned for nearly five hours before it was brought under control at 9.43pm the same evening.

It took almost 100 firefighters and 15 fire engines to subdue the blaze, and a spokeswoman for London Fire Brigade said the long stretch of dry weather was the probable cause of the fire.

Fourteen horses had to be moved to a place of safety.

Passengers tweeted photos of the smoke, but a spokesman for the airport said no flights were affected and both runways remained in operation.

There were no reported injuries.