FEARS have been raised that someone could be seriously hurt after discarded gas canisters were thrown on a fire.

Fire crews spent two hours on Sunday evening at the scene of a blaze on a Hampshire field that had been used by travellers for an encampment.

A bonfire had been started among rubbish left behind when the site, near Hound Nursery, in Hamble Lane, near Hamble, was abandoned.

But crew manager Neil Clayton, from Hightown fire station, said he was concerned that gas canisters had been thrown on the fire, creating a risk of explosion.

And he is now calling for the private field to be cleared of the remaining rubbish to avoid further fires being started.

He said: “People throwing canisters on fires is not very clever at all.

“They are a danger to us and the public.

“There’s still a danger because there’s probably a residual amount of gas in them, even if they are discarded. One was gassing off slightly, but they could rupture.”

Two crews from Hightown spent around two hours at the scene after being called at 7pm on Sunday, having to run water hoses 25 metres across the field to reach the fire.