Plenty of learning to take from Holme Fen fire, says chief
The blaze is no longer considered as a major incident
A senior fire chief believes there's plenty of learning for firefighters to do after the blaze at Holme Fen near Peterborough.
A major incident at the nature reserve has been stood down after firefighters spent the past three weeks tackling a huge wildfire there.
National resilience crews from the likes of Merseyside and Tyne & Wear have been sent home, with a small number of firefighters remaining at the site to monitor hotspots.
"I think we're well-prepared; we've done a lot of work in increasing our wildfire capability, 4x4 vehicles for access," Stuart Smith, assistant chief fire officer at Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS), said.
"Is there more learning (we can do)? I have no doubt."
Around 90 acres of woodland have been lost to the blaze, with up to 10,000 litres of water being used to dampen the smoke every minute, according to CFRS.
The fire involves an area measuring around 60 football pitches and is deep seated in peat.
Peat fires can spread underground and are “notoriously difficult to extinguish”, the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire has said.
Mr Smith told us he had "never seen anything like this in Cambridgeshire before" and is confident the service can improve its response to any future wildfires.
"We're a learning organisation and I have no doubt when we hold the debrief, there'll be learning (points); there's equipment we've brought in that's been really useful," he added.
"If there's learning (to be done), we'll prepare ourselves even better than how we did this time."
Matthew Warren, chief fire officer at CFRS, thanked crews from across the country for their help at Holme Fen this month.
"Without their support over the last fortnight, we would have been left with very few crews to respond to other incidents, resulting in delayed response times, and the fire itself may have spread further into the nature reserve," he said.
More than 20 callouts
Within 24 hours of scaling down the incident at Holme Fen, crews from CFRS were called to more than 20 separate incidents.
Around 30 firefighters in six fire engines attended a field fire near Tydd Gote, with more than 40 firefighters called to a fire at Hampton Nature Reserve in Peterborough.
The fires have prompted CFRS to warn people around staying safe outdoors this August bank holiday weekend.
"We want people to enjoy the outdoors, particularly over the bank holiday weekend, but we ask that people keep in mind that fires are starting and spreading more easily," Simon Thompson, area commander at CFRS, said.
CFRS has given some tips on how to reduce the risk of fire while outdoors:
- Don’t throw cigarette butts into dry vegetation and grass verges;
- think about having a picnic rather than a barbecue; if you are going to have a barbecue, be extra cautious and keep it away from dry grass, shrubs and wooden fences;
- don't have bonfires as they can easily spread in these conditions;
- clear up your litter after picnics as glass bottles can start fires.