A COAL bunker at Kingsnorth Power Station, which caught fire on Friday morning, was still burning this morning.

Firefighters from across north Kent, and a specialist crew from Ashford, were sent to the power station near Hoo, at about 10.30am, on Friday, after staff at the site called them in.

Crews from Strood, Medway, Cliffe, Hoo and Maidstone, along with a command support unit, spent most of the day at the site, trying to bring the fire under control.

A specialist foam unit from Ashford pumped pumped of foam into the bunker , which contains 350 tons of coal, in an attempt to stifle the flames.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: "The power station has its own on site firefighters and they called us in to help put to the flames.

"Our crews used foam to put out the flames and we had called Essex and London Fire and Rescue Services, and asked them to stand-by in case we needed any more foam.

"It was a long job and we were eventually stood down from the incident at about 2am the following day.

"The on-site power station firefighters then took over. No one was hurt in the incident and the was no danger to the public."

A crew from Strood were sent back to the site in the early hours of this morning after on-site firefighters again called for assistance.

The crew spent another three hours filling up the bunker with more foam. A spokeman added: " We refilled the bunkert with another foam blanket.

"Staff at the site may soon empty the bunker of the coal as this will help extinguish the fire."

The cause of the fire is unknown, though it may be due to spontaneous combustion.