FIREFIGHTERS stopped an 80ft tree going up in flames.

A crew from Winchester fire station attended the blaze inside a beech tree at St Catherine’s Hill, Winchester, on Saturday.

Watch manager Chris Roper said that a small fire had been started nearby at the beauty spot, which had spread up the tree’s roots.

He said: “It looks like a fire had been started either to keep people warm or cook food and it spread into the tree internally. We had to call for chainsaws to cut a section out of the tree so we could put it out.”