Crews face days of work to stop fire flare-ups

Fire crews are expecting to spend several more days working to tackle the fire in the New Forest and stop it from spreading with walkers and cyclists being urged to keep away.

The wildfire started nine days ago on Sunday 9 August when a van caught fire on the A31 near Ringwood. It spans an area of about 1.6 sq km (0.6 sq miles). Crews have spent almost 10,000 hours tackling the fire.

The ground around the edge of the fire is being kept wet and firefighters are dousing lingering hot spots.

The stretch of the A31 westbound remains closed between the M27 junction 2 at Ower and the A338 at Ringwood and eastbound between the A338 and the M27 at junction 1 for Cadnam.

The road closure is expected to remain in place until at least Thursday. The road needs resurfacing, barriers repaired and fencing replaced.

Driver are urged to stick to the diversion routes in place and and ignore Satnavs.

Forestry England car parks, roads and walking and cycling routes around Bratley View and Bolderwood also remain closed.

The fire service said it had fully surrounded the fire on Saturday and says the remote heathland terrain and "limited access to water is making for complex firefighting operation".

HIWFRS is urging people to avoid the area where crews are working.

Phil Carrigan, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, said that recent weather change have helped reduce the number of wildfires in the last few days but crews were still dealing with a "significant number" across south Wales, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire as well as the West Midlands.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast, he added there may be more hot weather ahead.

He said: "I'm not sure it's behind us, there's already conversations about particularly hot days in September, so if we move into a sixth heatwave we need to be prepared and we need to be effective and certainly that focuses in on the role of fire and rescue services."

"So we continue to be vigilant, we don't think we're through this yet, but we know that we've got a bit of respite - over the last 24 hours but moving into this week."

On Friday evening, the UK's mobile phone alert system was used to warn people not to light anything which could spark a wildfire, including barbecues and garden incinerators.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told members of the public to take the warning "seriously" and said it was triggered at the request of firefighters.