Fire service manager says New Forest wildfire is worst he's seen in 27 years of service
It comes as works continue at the scene
A fire service manager is telling us he hasn't seen anything like the New Forest wildfire in his 27 years of work.
The National Highways says works are continuing to fix 'significant' damages to the A31.
Karl Manners is a Group Manager for the service and he's telling us what it's like out there.
He said: "The scene when we first got there on the Sunday was a lot of smoke, a lot of really heavy flame and fire all the way throughout.
"But the scene now is a very different scene to what we had in the early stages.
"What you're seeing is large areas of devastated heathland and tree land, which is a lot of damage to the kind of foliage in the area.
"Lots of black, sooty and dusty areas where the fire has ripped across the surface and created loads of ash."
It comes as the A31's planned reopening is delayed to the weekend, as significant works are still to be completed.
Resurfacing of the carriageway has been completed, new safety barriers installed, and National Highways say they're making good progress replacing the boundary fencing.
These measures are essential for safety reasons to deter animals from entering the road.
With the fire raging for over a week, the organisation say they have found a lot more damage since initial assessments and the repairs required are now more substantial.
Nearly 1,500 metres of fencing needs replacing before the road can safely reopen.
Mr Manners told us more about the incident.
He said: "I think we're seeing conditions that fire and rescue services haven't seen for potentially 40 or 50 years.
"In our service in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, we've responded to more wildfire incidents this year so far, than we had done in the entirety of 2025."
Mr Manners went on to thank all the teams involved in tackling the fire, both on the ground and in the control rooms.