A TOP firefighter says it will be days until a large compost fire at a landfill site in north Cumbria burns out completely.

Fire crews are making regular visits to Thackwood waste site at Monkcastle in Southwaite to monitor the situation.

The blaze was first reported at 9am yesterday and at it's height, four crews from across the county were drafted in to tackle the fire.

Steve Graham, station manager at Carlisle East, said the fire was now under control, and was being supervised by the land owners and Environment Agency.

"We are making regular checks to the scene," he said. "There's 500 tonnes of the compost left which remains on fire and is smouldering.

"It will be a fair few number of days until it goes out. We'll keep monitoring it but there's no risk from the smoke to members of the public and we're quite happy to let it burn out on its own."

At its height, crews from Carlisle East, Carlisle West, Penrith and Cockermouth were tackling the blaze.

Cordons were immediately put up on site to stop the spread of fire and crews originally used two water jets to tackle it, which was later reduced to one.