FIREFIGHTERS spent three hours tackling a blaze in a field last night. 

At around 11.30pm on Thursday, April 13 one crew from Whitley Wood were called to Island Road after reports of trees and undergrowth alight. 

They had to call in a specialist off-road vehicle from Hampshire Hartney Wintley because the blaze was difficult to access by road. 

"They were the nearest crew that could mobilise a specialist off-road vehicle," said Andy Matthews, watch manager at Whitley Wood. 

"The stop message was recorded at 2.30am but we were there for about another hour dampening it all down.

"It was over quite a distance, around 20 square metres and quite a distance from the road.

"We don't know how it started but we believe it was accidental." 

At the beginning of the week, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) urged members of the public to take care while enjoying the Easter bank holiday in parks and gardens.

Around 20 incidents were recorded between Friday, April 7 and Sunday, April 9, a spokesman for RBFRS said.

RBFRS' prevention manager, Steve Beard, said: "Our fire crews have worked hard over the weekend to ensure people enjoyed the warm weather safely.

"We responded in a timely manner on numerous occasions where small fires got out of control.

“The weekend’s incidents included fires started by discarded smoking materials, bonfires too close to other flammable items and barbeques being left unattended.

"This demonstrates how a change in weather can rapidly change people’s habits and the risks that we face just by burning rubbish in our gardens or having a barbecue.

“While enjoying the warm weather and long weekend, we’re urging people to stay safe and there are lots of hints and tips to help with that in the outdoors safety section of our website.

“Also in some of the calls we responded to this weekend, well-intended neighbours had reported seeing smoke or that they could smell burning so one tip to avoid a visit from us is to make your neighbours aware that you will be burning items or holding a barbecue.”