by Keyan Milanian

Celebratory bonfires across the Towns kept fire crews busy last night.

Strood fire fighters were called to three separate incidents.

The first call came at 6.30pm when crews went to Columbine Road in Strood.

A bonfire had become out of control after a pile of rubbish was lit.

A spokesman for the crew said the fire was believed to be made up of one or two tons of fly-tipped waste.

It took crews about one and a half hours to extinguish the blaze.

A second call was received at 7.42pm, when a member of public on board a boat in the River Medway reported seeing smoke near Cuxton Marina. But when crews arrived the fire was safe and under control.

A Gravesend incident was the last of the three, reported just after 10pm.

Once again Strood joined firefighters from Thames-side in tackling the fire which is believed to have been started by children at the AEI Sports Club in Christianfields Avenue, Gravesend.

Crews spent about two hours putting out the flames on rubbish believed to have weiged about five tons.

A spokesman for Strood fire station asked anyone members of the public to take precautions if considering a bonfire in the coming days.

He said: "If people are going to have bonfires we would ask them to please run out water hoses for water protection, isolate the fire so it cannot spread and don't make it too big."