A FIRE involving a lorry containing more than 20 tonnes of household waste is thought to have been started deliberately, the fire service has said.

Fire control at Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service received a report of a trailer fire involving household waste at Woodbury in East Devon on Sunday morning (April 19).

Initially, two fire engines were mobilised: one from Danes Castle Fire Station and the other from Middlemoor Fire Station.

However, Newton Abbot Fire Station’s Environmental Protection Unit was soon called in due to the nature of the incident, which involved an articulated lorry trailer containing 24 tonne's of black bag household waste.

Crews used two main jets to extinguish the blaze.

‘This was deliberate ignition’, a spokesperson for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said.