PLUMES of black smoke billowed from rubbish which was on fire at a Verwood landfill site on Sunday.

Firefighters called to Blue Haze, off Ringwood Road, spent around four hours fighting the blaze in a rubbish cell.

Three crews from Verwood, Ringwood and Fordingbridge put out the flames, but around 20 per cent of the one hectare pit, which is two metres deep, was destroyed.

Residents thought they were going to be evacuated because of the fire at a site containing 1.8 million tonnes of refuse.

A group fighting Hampshire County Council plans to extend the site by eight hectares is worried about the fire risk to nearby homes and heathland.

Sarah Sumner, from the Association of Verwood Residents, said: “Questions raised about fire spreading to nearby homes and heathland need to be answered. Should landfill sites be situated so close to towns in the future?

“Locals will not have much say regarding the planning of minerals and waste sites as it is excluded in the Localism Bill.”

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: “Landfill generates large amounts of methane gas which is, as we know, flammable.”

Fire investigation officers are working to find out a cause.