DOZENS of firefighters from across West Somerset and beyond tackled a heath fire on the outskirts of Minehead after a planned burn went out of control on Wednesday afternoon.

Exmoor National Park rangers were burning areas of the heathland in the Woodcombe area of North Hill to control growth and improve conditions for wildlife when the wind changed and the blaze jumped a firebreak.

Crews from Minehead, Williton, Nether Stowey and over the Devon border in Lynton were called to the scene just before 2pm.

They used beaters, hose reel jets and specialist equipment including multi-terrain ground hog vehicles to bring the incident under control.

A spokesman for the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said around 15 acres of heath and gorse were destroyed.

Crews were called to a separate but nearby location just before 4pm to deal with a linked blaze which damaged a further three acres of land.

Firefighters were at the scene until just after 5pm, damping down the area.

"We had a number of calls from the public in the morning who had seen the smoke on the hill but at that stage, the burning was under control," said the spokesman. "However, the situation changed at about 2pm."

A spokesman for Exmoor National Park said the wind had changed suddenly while the rangers were carrying out the controlled burn.

"When they realised that they couldn't bring it under control themselves, they called the fire brigade for assistance," she said.

"The extra amount of area burnt wasn't very large and even joined together was less than the ten hectares limit."

Photo: Steve Guscott