About 25 firefighers tackled a fire in a crop field in Stonesfield near Woodstock - caused by a Chinese lantern.

A fire involving a crop of more than six hectares was well alight when crews arrived on the scene at 9.30pm last night.

They used water jets and beaters to deal with the incident and prevent it spreading to hedgerows and adjacent crop fields.

Incident commander John Nixon said: "The fire was caused by a Chinese lantern that had drifted over the field, came down, setting the field alight.

"The lantern had been released from a nearby house which had been holding a birthday celebration."