FIREFIGHTERS battled to extinguish rubbish on fire at a landfill blaze near Verwood on Monday night.

Crews from Hampshire and Dorset were sent to the Blue Haze landfill site near the Ebblake Industrial Estate on Monday evening.

At the height of the incident 50 firefighters were in attendance at the site, just off the A31.

The landfill is operated by waste and recycling specialists Veolia.

Keely Gallagher from the waste management company said there were no reported injuries or environmental damage.

“The fire was restricted to one cell of the landfill and involved approximately 10 tonnes of residual waste.

“Fire crews will be visiting the scene at intervals throughout Tuesday and a full investigation is underway.”

Initially Hampshire Fire and Rescue said 30,000 tonnes of rubbish was involved but it appears this is the surface amount they were monitoring in the “cell”.

Two crews from Ringwood were called back to the site around 4am after a pocket of fire was reported.

They extinguished the fire and left around 6am.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Group manager Dan Tasker who was at the incident said: "The crews have worked extremely hard with the site contractors, to create an effective fire break and to prevent the incident from escalating, bringing the incident under control.”

In 2011, a fire at Blue Haze took nearly 24hours to put out and involved 500 tonnes of rubbish.

The site takes in 215,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste and 32,500 tonnes of inert waste a year.

Crews were from Ringwood, Verwood and Ferndown, with supporting appliances from Beaulieu and Eastleigh.