The firefighters worked quickly to douse the blaze, which spread “a couple of hundred metres”.

Witnesses told The Leader a lightning strike ignited the fire before it took off in the dry grass, near Kettle Road.

EMERGENCY services are on the scene of a fire near Tamworth airport on Thursday afternoon. 

A witness told The Leader the “raging” fire was a result of a lightning strike. 

A waterbombing helicopter has been deployed to the area and RFS crews and police are also on scene.

There are reports the grassfire is a couple of hundred metres in length, off the Oxley Highway.