Firefighters have been battling a large fire at a Scots landfill site.

Emergency services were alerted to the blaze, at the Lochhead Landfill Site, in Dunfermline, shortly before 1.30pm.

Pictures on social media showed black smoke billowing high into the sky from the site.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said the blaze involved ‘a large quantity of rubbish and some machinery’.

It has also warned local residents to keep their windows and doors shut while police have asked members of the public to avoid the area.

A Fife Council statement said: ‘Firefighters are currently dealing with a fire at Dunfermline Recycling Centre.

‘Obviously this means the centre will be closed for the time being and this may have a knock on effect for waste collections and bulky uplifts in West Fife tomorrow, and possibly into the week.’

An eyewitness at the scene told The Courier: ‘You can see the fire from Dunfermline and there is thick black smoke coming from the tip.

Black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from miles around

Black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from miles around

‘The smoke is changing from pure black to white. If you are upwind of the fire it smells acrid. The wind is keeping the smoke quite low.’

Another took to social media to write: ‘We were just asked to leave and they’ve closed. Huge fire.’

A SFRS spokesperson added: ‘We have four appliances and a height appliance at the scene. We were called out at 1.28pm.’

It’s the second major blaze at the site in nine months.

There was a fire in the early hours of December 16 last year and, at its height, there were six fire engines and ‘specialist resources’ used to tackle it.

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Smoke visible for miles after huge fire breaks out at Scots waste plant