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Crews to remain at Holme Fen fire until September

Alex Dunlop,at Holme Fenand
Shariqua Ahmed
BBC A firefighter in a blue top and beige trousers and a red helmet, using a hose pipe to put the fire out, which has engulfed a tree.BBC
The blaze at Holme Fen nature reserve started on 8 August and is still burning

Firefighters who have been tackling a major blaze at a Cambridgeshire nature reserve since early August are due to remain on site until the middle of September.

Crews have entered their 14th day of operations at Holme Fen, near Peterborough, which has burned about half of the site.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters from all over the country had been working in difficult conditions to bring the blaze under control.

Assistant chief officer Stuart Smith said the fire had been contained, and crews were working with forestry specialists to remove fallen trees so firefighters could reach hot spots in the peat soil below.

He said crews were working to a "four-week window".

"We're sort of scaling down overnight. It is dangerous on site... we've got lighting, but obviously extremely difficult inside the inner cordon," he added.

A yellow JCB piece of machinery picking up tree branches.
Various machinery is being used to aid firefighters in tackling the blaze

Peat fires can be difficult to extinguish because they can spread underground without producing obvious flames or large amounts of smoke.

Smith said crews would use temperature probes and dig trenches to find out how far the fire had spread underground, which could be as deep as five to six metres in some places.

Stuart Smith - a man with short blonde hair, wearing a bright orange-coloured jacket, smiling for the camera.
Stuart Smith said the operation required collaboration between several fire services and other agencies

Smith, who has been in the fire service for 22 years, said the incident was a logistical challenge.

He said staff across the service had supported the operation by looking after firefighters' welfare and arranging hotel accommodation for crews from neighbouring services.

"We've got the Rapid Relief Team providing food and drinks for the whole of the first week, and now Ramsey Town Council - along with the Admiral Wells Pub - providing food has been invaluable.

"Twenty fire engines to start off with at the height of the incident is never an easy feat in the first place, let alone the other logistics that have taken place since then."

Previously, area commander Wayne Swales compared conditions faced by firefighters to being like a "boil in the bag" meal due to the heat.

More on Holme Fen fire

Jake Banks of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, which has supported the response since the start, said the first week was "extremely intense", with a 200ft (60m) tree falling every few minutes.

"The risks were massive to all firefighters out on the ground... six to 10 feet (3m) below ground, with temperatures recorded up to a thousand degrees," he said.

Yaxley Community Fire and Rescue Station A man in the foreground wearing a floppy black hat has a yellow hose over his shoulder and is aiming water at the undergrowth, which is smoking. There are cut trees all around him, and some tall standing trees in the background.Yaxley Community Fire and Rescue Station
Trees have been cleared across the site as crews tackle the flames deep into the undergrowth

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