FIRE crews had a busy night dealing with reports of an explosion at a manhole cover, a kitchen fire and a lorry fire.

At 6.39pm on Tuesday fire crews were called to a kitchen fire in Rip Croft in Southwell, Portland.

The fire was found to have started accidentally due to unattended cooking and was extinguished by 7pm.

At just after 9pm, firefighters from Swanage were called to Cliff Avenue in the town, following reports of an explosion and smoke coming from a manhole cover.

On arrival the crew found that a power cut in the area had been caused by arcing underground power cables. Crews removed the manhole cover to ventilate the underground ducting and made the area safe until the electricity board arrived.

At 5.21am this morning firefighters were called to a lorry fire on the A30 just outside of Shaftesbury.

The fire is believed to have started accidentally due to a mechanical fault within the engine. The cab of the HGV was destroyed in the blaze.