FIREFIGHTERS spent the night battling an inferno after 300-tonnes of hay burst into flames in a field near Winterbourne last night.

The alarm was raised at around 10.30pm after the fire broke out in a large pile of hay in a field near the junction of the B4494 Wantage Road and Winterbourne Road.

Crews from Dee Road, Wokingham and Newbury rushed to the scene used hose reels and a water curtain to battle the blaze and stop it spreading to other hay bales.

Plumes of smoke rose in thick clouds from the 15-metre long, 10-metre high hay stack which were so high that motorists could see it from the M4.

Firefighters are still at the scene this morning.