Plumes of smoke as firefighters called to tackle Hartlepool beach blaze

Cleveland Fire Brigade received reports of a grass fire on the Hartlepool coast at around 6.20 pm on Tuesday evening (March 23).

The fire, which broke out on the sand dunes between Crimdon and Steetley Pier, burnt around 300 square metres of grass.

Two fire engines from Headland and Hartlepool attended the scene and the fire was extinguished by 7.20 pm.

The cause of the incident is not clear at this time. Nobody was injured.

It comes after as much as 900 square metres of grassland, inhabited by ground nesting birds and other wildlife were destroyed in a fire at Summerhiil Country Park overnight from Monday (March 22) to Tuesday (March 23).