An investigation has been launched after an off-road fire appliance tipped over while on an emergency call to a North East hillside.

Cleveland Fire Brigade have confirmed they have launched an investigation following an incident which saw a Unimog tip over on Eston Hills on Wednesday (May 31).

They confirmed the vehicle had been attending an emergency call before overturning on its side.

Read more: Pictures as Cleveland Fire Brigade 4x4 tips over in Eston Hills

The Northern Echo:

No firefighters were injured during the incident and the vehicle has been recovered.

A Cleveland Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "Yesterday evening (31/05) our off-road vehicle (Unimog) was on route to an emergency call on Eston Hills and overturned on its side.

"We can confirm that no firefighters were injured during the incident and the vehicle has been recovered.

"An internal investigation has commenced to determine the cause of the accident."

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The Northern Echo:

Francesca Gray, who came across the scene while walking her dogs, said she understood firefighters had responded to a report of children starting fires on the hill.

She said: "We were walking our dogs near the college field, when I looked over and said 'oh, there must be a fire over there'. 

"I could see smoke. We were looking and could see a vehicle, and we thought someone was burning a car out.

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"I zoomed in from where we were on my camera and saw it was the fire engine, so we walked over to it. The firefighters were all just sat waiting for someone to come up with a heavy loader.

"I think they said to get it up and out. No one was hurt luckily and they didn't mention how it had happened, but it looked like they had taken the corner too far up the side and tipped over.

"They had been up to put out a fire on the top of the hills that kids had lit."