Number of crews fighting Suffolk wildfire reduced as National Trust launches emergency appeal
Firefighters made good progress overnight, but Suffolk Fire and Rescue said crews were likely to stay on site for the next few days, and asked people to avoid the area and keep local roads clear for emergency vehicles.
Fire crews have started to reduce the number of engines fighting a major wildfire on Suffolk's Dunwich Heath, as the National Trust launched an emergency appeal to restore what it called a "totally devastated" landscape.
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Fourteen fire appliances had been sent to the site near Leiston, but that was cut to eight for overnight work after firefighters made good progress and created more firebreaks on Friday.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue said on Saturday that crews were likely to stay on site for the next two to three days, and asked people to avoid the area and keep local roads clear for emergency vehicles.
The charity said the blaze had left the lowland heath "unrecognisable", as the once purple carpet of heather turned into a blackened, smouldering wasteland.
Hilary McGrady, the National Trust's director-general, called the loss "heartbreaking", saying the reserve was home to rare species including the Dartford warbler, nightjars and skylarks, as well as adders, lizards and the silver-studded blue butterfly.
Lowland heath is one of the UK's rarest habitats, with an estimated 92 per cent lost in England over the past 120 years, making the damage at Dunwich a major blow for nature conservation.
"We've lost precious habitats, wildlife, trees, and a place where people have made memories over generations," Ms McGrady said.
"But together we can and will restore Dunwich and, crucially, make it more resilient and better adapted for the climate we're facing now, and the climate we'll be facing in future."
The National Trust said donations would go straight towards regrowing habitats, rebuilding homes for wildlife and making the landscape more resilient, warning the charity could not pay for the work alone.
Residents and holidaymakers who had been evacuated were given a short, police-escorted window on Friday to pick up essential belongings, as firefighters kept tackling hotspots across the site.
The Suffolk blaze is one of more than 200 wildfires reported in England and Wales in under two weeks, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, which said the risk remained "elevated".
Hot, dry weather has left half of England and the whole of Wales in drought, with fire services in more than 20 areas — from Lincolnshire and Derbyshire to Kent, Surrey and Norfolk — dealing with open fires in recent days.
The incident at Dunwich is expected to sharpen debate over land management, climate adaptation and the pressures on England's most vulnerable natural habitats as extreme weather becomes more common.