Fire crews tackle 'challenging' woodland blaze

A "challenging" woodland blaze in Hampshire has been extinguished, after firefighters tackled the incident across two days.

More than 50 firefighters responded to reports of a large fire near Hale Purlieu in the New Forest at about 14:30 BST on Saturday.

The fire, covering an area of about 2,400 sq m (25,833 sq ft) of difficult terrain had been scaled back overnight owing to reduced visibility, with crews returning on Sunday.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue said on Sunday afternoon that crews had since received the stop order, with the blaze now extinguished.

The service added that it had now handed the incident over to the National Grid, due to an electrical pylon within the vicinity of the blaze.

Matt Rowe, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service, said having been called to a "small fire" at the site, the first firefighters on the scene "realised that the fire was spreading very quickly".

"So they made out for further appliances and here we are nearly 24 hours later and crews are still on site damping down," he said.

Rowe said the access to the blaze had been "a challenge", with it burning on a hillside within the New Forest.

"It's very difficult for the firefighters to actually get to the scene - so they are having to actually use saws to actually cut some of the trees away," he said.

He explained that getting water to the site had proven to be "an issue", and that the service had used carriers and water dams - which he said were "like a blow-up hot tub".

"It allows them to dump the water into the dam, then the fire appliances can use that water to fight the fire whilst the water carrier goes off and fills up from a local hydrant," he said.

He explained that the fire had started near a public footpath and the site of ongoing works on nearby electrical pylons.

The cause of the blaze was "unclear" he said, adding: "It's a very large area and it's difficult to actually see what started the fire at this time."

The National Grid said it was "aware of a fire beneath a section of overhead electricity lines" near Hale.

"Emergency services are attending the incident and National Grid is supporting the response. There are no impacts on electricity supplies," it said.

It added that it would be "inappropriate to speculate" on the cause of the blaze.

The National Grid and contractor Balfour Beatty had been carrying out works in the area prior to the fire.