Firefighters battled a blaze involving 30 tonnes of material used to make road surfaces at a quarry near Shrewsbury.

The fire broke out in a silo at Haughmond Hill Quarry just before 2.30pm yesterday. About 30 tonnes of bitumen went up in flames and smoke began coming out of the top of the silo.

A crew remained on scene through the night keeping the bitumen cool and were today carrying out an inspection to make sure it was safe to leave.

Incident commander Martin Davies said: “We were called to a fire within a 20 metre silo containing 30 tonnes of bitumen. Luckily it wasn’t as serious as it could have been, but the majority of units were on the scene for almost three hours.”

He said one crew remained on scene into the evening to ensure the substance remained cool.

Two water ladders, a mini pumping unit and pump and an incident commander from Shrewsbury, an aerial ladder platform from Telford, and a foam unit and water ladder from Tweedale were all called to the scene.

A crew from Baschurch was also called in to provide cover in Shrewsbury.

One worker, who did not want to be named, said he and three other people had turned up for a night shift and had been told they had to wait at the entrance “due to an incident”.

Brian Edwards, who also works at the site, added: “I’ve been told not to worry as it’s not dangerous.”