A flint sliced by a plough blade sparked a fire in a field of corn which destroyed about 15 acres of the crop in Medway.

Firefighters from several stations were called to the scene at Allhallows on Friday afternoon where a farmer had been ploughing his field.

He had just cut the top of the corn with his combine harvester and was ploughing the stubble back into the ground when a blade on the machine caught the stone.

The blade cut the flint in half and sparks from it then caught the dry corn stubble alight. The wind quickly whipped up the flames, which then spread to neighbouring fields.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: "The wind was our main problem. As soon as we had contained the fire into a small section of the field, the wind would whip up and carry the flames further."

The blaze started at around 1.45pm and firefighters returned to the station at 4.30pm.