FIRE crews were at the scene of a blaze in Lydney for more than two days.

Around 60 firefighters were on the scene at Bendall's scrapyard in Harbour Road at the height of the incident.

The emergency services arrived on the scene at around 10.40am on Thursday and tackled the blaze into the early hours of Friday.

Activities were scaled down on Friday morning and the operation finally came to a close at 2pm on Saturday afternoon.

The fire broke out in a pile of cars measuring 33 feet (10 metres) high by 990 feet (30 metres) by 1,990 feet (60 metres).

Two fire engines from Lydney were initially sent to the yard where they were confronted by a rapidly escalating blaze involving around 500 tonnes of scrap metal.

They were joined by firefighters from Coleford, Chepstow, Monmouth, Newent, Glou­cester, Wotton-under-Edge and Tewkesbury.

Specialist equipment was sent from Cheltenham, Moreton-in-Marsh and Cirencester.

Plumes of thick black smoke were sent into the air and nearby residents and businesses were warned to shut windows.

The fire service worked with the Environment Agency to minimise the effects of the fire and water run-off.

The blaze is not being treated as suspicious, said a spokesman for the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service.

Station Commander Tim Lanfear praised the crews for their hard work in "arduous" conditions and thanked the company for their co-operation throughout the day.