Crews to leave nature reserve after month-long fire

Firefighters tackling a major blaze at a Cambridgeshire nature reserve have confirmed they are ready to leave the site after 31 days.

The fire at Holme Fen, near Peterborough, which started on 8 August, has left about half the reserve badly burnt. At its peak, more than 100 firefighters were deployed to the site.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service was supported by National Resilience crews providing specialist capabilities to tackle the peatland fire.

Assistant chief fire officer Stuart Smith described it as "the biggest incident the county had faced in many years", but said the service could now "withdraw crews and hand the site back to Natural England".

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

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

The fire, which affected an area equivalent to about 60 football pitches, was stood down as a major incident on 25 August.

Smith added: "We have seen crews from every fire station attend at some point during the response, as well as the fantastic support we've received from our colleagues across the country through National Resilience arrangements.

"It's been an extremely tough incident, especially with the gruelling hot weather we've seen over the last month or so, but we have reached a point where we feel it is safe for us to withdraw all crews and hand the site back over to Natural England."

Smith, who called it "an unprecedented fire" also praised the strong community response from local residents, farmers and organisations, who rallied around to provide food and support to the crews.

He also thanked partners including the Environment Agency for their "major role in ensuring we had water supplies".

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