By Sam Wroblewski, reporting by Andrew Augustus WPRO News

Firefighters were on scene for hours after a large compost fire broke out Wednesday morning in a field adjacent to Bald Hill Nursery.

Exeter Fire Chief David Chamberland said crews arrived on scene at 4:30a.m. to find a compost pile roughly the size of a football field on fire.

“It’s a pile of debris, brush, compost and landscaping materials; there’s a little bit of everything there,” said Chamberland.

Due to the lack of fire hydrants, crews used large water takers and pond water to fight the fire. Chamberland says the dry conditions made it difficult to contain the blaze.

“Everything is very dry, ponds are low, water is low in streams, and now we’re shuttling [water] from hydrants down on route 2.”

Excavation equipment was brought in to help fight the fire burning underneath the source of the compost pile.

Chamberland said the fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshall and the Department of Environmental Management.

No one was injured in the fire.