Fireball explodes into the sky over Stoke as firefighters rush to the scene

Images show a massive fireball that sent flames and smoke rising into the sky over a city with emergency services at the scene.

Firefighters rushed to Pleydell Street, Sneyd Green, in Stoke-on-Trent, during the night and crews are still there this morning. A photo was taken of the flames rocketing up into the sky shortly after 2am. It has been a busy night for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue who also attended a fire at a field in Tamworth, Stoke-on-TrentLive reports.

A message from the the fire service on X reads: "We have crews from Tamworth Belgrave, Tamworth Mercia, and Lichfield in attendance at a fire in a field off Moor Lane, Bolehall, Tamworth. Please avoid the area."

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It comes as fire services around the country have warned people of the danger of wildfires during the hot and dry weather.

Alongside the heat, England has also experienced its driest start to the year since 1976, as well as its driest March to June period since 1893, according to the latest water situation report from the Environment Agency.

Reservoir levels fell at nearly three-quarters of sites during June and are below average in all regions, with storage at four sites classed as “exceptionally low”: Blagdon in Somerset (62%), Blithfield in Staffordshire (59%), Derwent Valley in Derbyshire (58%) and the Yorkshire Supply Group (55%).

The data comes ahead of the first hosepipe ban of the year for households in one part of the country.

Yorkshire Water said restrictions on using hosepipes for activities such as watering the garden, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools will be brought in from Friday in an effort to protect supplies in the face of more dry weather forecast in the coming weeks.