A HELICOPTER yesterday joined the battle against one of the biggest moorland fires in recent years, bombing the flames with thousands of gallons of water.

Scooping water from a specially-constructed dam, it was criss-crossing the moor to prevent the blaze spreading further across the North York Moors.

But, although the worst of the four square-mile blaze on Fylingdales Moor is believed to be over, fire crews are expected to remain at the scene well into the weekend.

Yesterday, the situation was exacerbated when a second fire broke out at Lattergate Hill, a few miles to the north of the original outbreak.

Unlike the original blaze, it is thought to have been started deliberately and firefighters tackled it alongside the first fire.

"We are treating the second blaze as suspicious but why anyone would want to do something like that is beyond us," said a spokesman.

However he added: "The helicopter is making life much easier for us. It enables us to reach the really inaccessible spots."

The huge blaze, which began on Wednesday, has been stretching the resources of the North Yorkshire force to the limit and every fire station in the county - even as far away as Bentham and Hawes - has been involved.

Each crew has attended the scene at least twice and yesterday more than 100 firefighters were tackling the flames.

Units from surrounding brigades in Durham, Cleveland, West Yorkshire and Humberside have also been involved, providing cover at the scene and at the depleted North Yorkshire fire stations.

The situation was also hampered yesterday by the arrival of sightseers anxious to get a glimpse of the fire.

Last night, fire chiefs were urging them to stay away.

"The fire is contained and we believe we can stop it from spreading any further," said Divisional Officer Steve Cluderay.

"But we have to deal with all the hot spots and be on the alert should the wind come up and fan the flames again.

"We will definitely be there again overnight and probably well into the weekend as we continue damping it down."

No one has been injured in the fire, which is believed to have been started by a carelessly discarded cigarette or disposable barbecue.