Fire crews have now left the scene of a 600-tonne haystack blaze which caught fire last night near Hitchin.

Members of the public called in the fire in Pirton Road just after 8pm yesterday after straw bales caught alight.

Engines from Hitchin, Stevenage, Letchworth and Baldock and Welwyn Garden City have been keeping the flames under control throughout the day.

Hitchin firefighter Daniel Fair said all crews left the scene at around 2pm but that the mass of straw is still smouldering.

He told the Comet: “The fire is not yet out but it is under control, and it will be burning all weekend.

“We will go back to regularly inspect it over the next couple of days.”

He said haystack fires were not very common in Hertfordshire but that “a couple” did occur each year.

“This is the biggest one we have had in the Hitchin area for a while,” he said.

It is not yet known what caused the fire.