Firefighters tackle Ampthill industrial estate blaze throughout the night

Firefighters spent more than eight hours tackling a blaze at an industrial estate in Ampthill.

Crews from Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire fought the fire with five engines, two water carriers, an aerial platform and a pump in Ampthill Scrap Yard on Station Road.

Residents were told to keep their doors and windows closed as firefighters battled with the incident throughout the night, while Bedfordshire Police closed the road off to motorists during the fire. The service tweeted at 4.13am that the blaze had been put out.

Liam Smith, a firefighter and on-call commander for Bedfordshire Fire Service, tweeted: “Phew! What a night! Managing Command Support at a large incident in #Ampthill. Some seriously hard work put in by @BedsFire to prevent fire spread.”

Bedfordshire Fire Service announced that crews will return to the site this morning (August 22) for a reinspection.

An eyewitness said: “Flames were seen nearly 50 feet above the ground over the top of the nearby Royal Mail offices.”