AROUND 150 cars were destroyed in the blaze that ripped through a Poole scrapyard on Friday night.

Sixty firefighters worked to bring the inferno under control, which has caused tens of thousands of pounds of damage at the Charles Trent site.

At its height, thick black smoke curled 100ft into the air - a sight visible for miles in every direction.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service confirmed 11 pumps attended the scene on Friday evening from around 8.30pm.

The incident was officially closed at 5am on Saturday.

Shocked witnesses reported hearing loud explosions as the fire moved from vehicle to vehicle.

Damage has been largely confined to the compound, off Ringwood Road, Poole, but a number of adjoining businesses have been affected.

Charles Trent director Marc Trent told the Daily Echo: "The fire was on one of our compounds, not our main Ringwood Road site. Around 150 vehicles have been destroyed - these were insurance cars, most of them write-offs, and they are only stored here."

Fire investigators have launched an inquiry into the cause of the blaze and Mr Trent told the Echo it would be pure speculation on his part to give a cause at this stage.

He added: "The police and fire service were brilliant, we cannot thank them enough. It was largely contained within the yard, a couple of trucks have been damaged but that will all be sorted.

"We had a lot of well-wishers on the night, we've been around in the town for a long time and never had a fire like this before. No-one has been hurt, everyone is OK, now we're just trying to sort the mess out and find out what the total damage is.”

Paul Walsh, of Faststart Service Limited - whose business backs onto the scrapyard - said: "I took a phone call about 9pm on Friday night telling me to get up here.

"My Chevy pick-up was the first to go up in smoke - my grab lorry has also gone."

This eight-wheeled tipper lorry and crane, weighing 32-tonnes, has been destroyed in the fire.

"Everything has melted," said Mr Walsh. "The tipper body seems to be alright but everything else has been melted away."

A number of other neighbouring businesses have been affected as well, mainly sustaining heat and smoke damage.

Speaking from the scene on Saturday, Mr Walsh said: "At the moment I've been told nothing by anyone really. The lorry was £30,000, the Chevy - my own personal pick-up - was worth about £10,000.

"No-one seems to know what caused the fire, but it could have been a lot worse. At least no-one was injured, we have no casualties.

"Even the cats in the yard made it to cover.”