THE huge extent of the Winter Hill moorland fire has been revealed after it was captured on video by a qualified drone pilot on his way to work.

Six crews of firefighters, from Lancashire and Greater Manchester fire services, tackled the blaze through the night after it broke out just before 4pm yesterday.

The fire covered an area of 1km by 500m, with crews battling it from either side, and it was only extinguished after more than six hours of work by the firefighters.

They also returned to the site this morning to check for any further signs of fire and to investigate the incident.

James Boyers, who is a qualified UAV pilot and works for creative design company Porfolio, in St Georges Square in Bolton town centre, shot footage of the aftermath of the fire yesterday morning.

Mr Boyers, aged 37, was on his way to work from his home in Ashton-in-Makerfield and decided to take the opportunity to put his skills into practice.

He said: "I heard about the fire on may way home from work last night so I thought I would go and take the drone out.

"We do a lot of commercial work with the drones, and it was rewarding to be able to see the video across the sprawling landscape after filming it."

Large plumes of smoke could be seen around much of Lancashire following the fire, which started on land about a mile from Georges Lane in Horwich.

The fire service was made aware of the fire after a pilot spotted the smoke. He then contacted air traffic control at Liverpool John Lennon airport.

Residents were asked to close windows and doors and to stay away from the area.

Group manager Dean Nankivell, the fire officer in charge of the incident, said: "In this warm weather the ground is extremely dry which creates a tinderbox effect and that means any fire can spread very easily."