40 firefighters tackle large heath fire in Dorset
The blaze broke out near Christchurch last night
Last updated 6th Apr 2022
Around 40 firefighters have been involved in battling a large heath fire in Dorset.
Crews were called to St Catherine's Hill near Christchurch just after 6.30pm last night.
Around 2.8 hectares of heathland were involved in the blaze which took more than 2 hours to put out.
A spokesperson for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue said:
"At the height of the incident, we had fire engines from Christchurch, Poole, Swanage, Ferndown, Salisbury and Ringwood, small 4x4 appliances from Christchurch, Ferndown and Burley, plus a water carrier from Ringwood and a support vehicle from Hamworthy.
"The fire was quickly surrounded despite it being driven by the wind, and the stop came at 8.18pm, when we were able to start scaling back.
"We had left the scene by midnight. A crew from Christchurch went back there at 6am for a planned reinspection in daylight and damped down any new hotspots."
No one was injured and it is still unclear how the fire started.