Crews to re-visit scene of Dartmoor fire
Teams were tackling the blaze until the early hours of this morning
Last updated 1st Jun 2021
Fire crews from Bere Alston will be re-visiting the scene of a blaze on Dartmoor this morning.
It broke out in a camper van at Huccaby Tor yesterday afternoon (31 May) and spread to nearby gorse land.
High winds helped fuel the flames, as crews continued to tackle it well into the night.
There were 13 engines on the scene at one point, but this was eventually scaled back to two.
A spokesperson for Devon and Somerset Fire said:
"Over 30 calls have been received today to reports of a fire on Dartmoor.
"The fire initially started in a camper van and due to winds, then spread to the gorse land nearby.
"One fire engine from Yelverton was sent to the original incident, and whilst en route, several more calls were received by members of the public to say that the moorland was alight.
"One fire engine from Bovey Tracey, one from Princetown and a water bowser from Torquay were sent on to the incident.
"On arrival, crews confirmed one camper van was well alight and the fire had spread to the gorse. The Officer In Charge requested the assistance of a fourth fire engine... this came from Newton Abbot. A further appliance was also sent from Tavistock.
"This is a large gorse fire, with a fire front of approximately half a mile, escalated quickly by the high winds. Further fire engines are attending from the surrounding areas, Modbury, Okehampton, Chagford, Crownhill Plymouth, and other appliances from Totnes, Ivybridge and Danes Castle Exeter.
"18:26 - The fire is covering an area of approximately one square kilometre involving moorland, gorse and trees. Crews are using two main jets, one hose reel jet, water back packs, beaters and all terrain vehicle. The fire is continuing to burn in a westerly direction with the fire front having reduced to 200m.
"Update 20:45 - This incident has been scaled down to 2 Fire Engines from Bere Alston and Paignton, crews have requested assistance from the Police to recover the Campervan."
Crews issued another update at 00.45 to say that they had left the scene, but they will be sending one fire engine this morning to make sure the fire is fully extinguished.