31 July 2010 Last updated at 05:29 ET

Chinese lantern causes crop fire near Woodstock

A Chinese lantern released as part of birthday celebrations caused a severe crop fire when it landed in an Oxfordshire field.

Crews were called to Stonesfield, near Woodstock, at 2130 BST on Friday, to seven hectares of barley crop on fire.

Firefighters tackled the blaze to stop it from spreading to nearby crop fields and hedges.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said there had been a recent increase in fires caused by the lanterns.

Incident commander John Nixon said: "Whilst we are happy for people to celebrate special occasions, they must consider the potential damage these lanterns can cause.

"We have had a particularly dry summer and it does not take much to set large areas of the countryside alight."