Firefighters from Strood were called out to a barge on the River Medway earlier this evening after receiving reports it was on fire.

The crew were called out shortly before 5pm after someone dialed 999 reporting the boat was on fire.

However, when the crew arrived on the scene they quickly established the fire was actually in a metal skip on a metal barge and was a planned controlled fire.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It was safe and was a controlled fire.

We gave advise and asked the person burning the material to contact our control room so staff could inform other people who called it in as an emergency job."