Seventeen fire crews have been called to tackle a landfill fire at Wareham.

The fire, which broke out at the Trigon site in the early hours of the morning, involves 10,000 tonnes of rubbish.

Ten fire engines and 7 special appliances are on the scene and firefighters say they expect to be there for some time.

The ambulance service have also attended as a precaution, and the Environment Agency are on hand in case of any pollution issues, the fire service says.

Residents are advised to keep windows closed if they are worried about fumes from the incident. 

A spokesman for Viridor said: "At around 11pm yesterday a surface fire broke out at Viridor’s Trigon landfill site. Viridor actioned its emergency response procedures quickly and effectively.

"Crews from the Dorset Fire and Rescue Services are working alongside Viridor site personnel to extinguish the fire and the Environment Agency  are in attendance.

"The Emergency services continue to work with the Viridor team to extinguish the fire and Viridor will issue a further update when the fire has been extinguished.

"We have notified our customers and partners that the site will remain closed for a number of days and that services will be diverted."

Ian Morrish, Director of Landfill Energy for Viridor said: “I would like to that the Dorset Fire and Rescue Services and the Viridor team for working tirelessly through the night. We will now conduct a full investigation into the cause of this incident.”

A fire at the site in September 2014 took five days to put out, and another in April last year saw firefighters on site for several days.

It is understood that while the majority of the fire has now largely been brought under control but there were still concerns over material underneath that could have been at risk.

Light grey smoke could be seen this morning drifting across the horizon in a north-easterly direction. 

It is not yet known how the fire started and it is believed it will be some time before firefighters are able to determine the cause.

The stop message was issued at 4.27am and the remaining crews of three pumps and support vehicles are now damping down the scene.

The fire is still smouldering and some firefighters will remain on site overnight.