Firefighters battle field blaze in Norfolk Broads village

Emergency services were called at 11.47am on Tuesday (July 19) to reports of a fire in the open at Barton Turf.

Six appliances from Stalham, Wroxham, Martham, Acle, Gorleston and Great Yarmouth had arrived at the scene by 12pm.

The fire was quickly spreading across the field (Image: Simon Ciappara)

Eyewitness Simon Ciappara, from Neatishead, captured pictures of the blaze.

Smoke billowed into the air as the fire in Barton Turf raged on (Image: Simon Ciappara)

He said: "I was sitting at home when a friend called and told me about the fire, as I'm a keen photographer.

"Once there I could see the fire crews hard at work with some of the firefighters beating the flames to put them out.

"Even from a distance you could see their weariness battling the fire in such heat.

Firefighters battle a field fire in Barton Turf (Image: Simon Ciappara)

"A farmer was also trying to shovel straw out of the way from the flames with a forklift and fortunately the field had been harvested.

"The heat haze coming off the flames was extraordinary, you could see it rising 15 to 20ft in the air."