THIRTY firefighters tackled a huge gorse fire in the New Forest over the weekend.

The blaze engulfed 20 acres of land at the area known as Burley Rocks at around 1.20pm on Sunday, with crews Hamsphire and Dorset and Wiltshire battling the flames.

Drifting smoke from the fire was so thick that one stage officers had to slow traffic on the nearby A35.

Firecrews from Ringwood, New Milton, Christchurch, Verwood and Eastleigh attended the scene.

The fire was put out at around 5.40pm.