FIREFIGHTERS fought a week-long battle against rubbish tip fire.

The blaze started at the Mark's Quarry landfill site, Pithouse Lane, Leamside, near Durham, at the begining of last week, sending clouds of smoke over the countryside.

By Monday firefighters believed the blaze, in domestic waste in a trench, was out. It is not thought to have been started deliberately.

Station Officer Dave Turnbull, of County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue, said: "Hopefully that's the end but we just don't know.

"It did flare up before when we thought we had knocked it out. We are not at the scene but obviously the site management are and they know the procedures to follow."

Throughout the blaze contractors used excavators to move piles of waste away from the site of the fire to try to give better access to burning material.

People in West Rainton feared potential health effects.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "We don't believe there was a serious risk to health otherwise we would have put out an alert."