Ashdown Forest fire – Huge blaze breaks out in ‘Winnie the Pooh’ wood after wildfires
A HUGE blaze ravaged the forest which inspired A.A. Milne’s beloved Winnie the Pooh overnight.
The devastating fire, which raged through the “Hundred Acre Wood” for eight hours, is the second to impact the Sussex beauty spot in two months.
While still burning this morning, the flames which swept across an area of Ashdown Forest the size of six football pitches are now under control, fire crews confirmed.
Firefighters were called to the forest near Kingstanding, 19 miles north-east of Brighton, at about 9.30pm.
An East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said “Six fire engines, four Land Rovers, a water carrier and the control unit are in attendance and our teams are tackling the fire using beaters.”
This morning at 5.30am, an update said: “The fire has been brought under control and operations have been scaled back to two fire engines and two Land Rovers.
“Crews are expected to remain at the scene for most of the morning dealing with the incident.”
The cause isn’t yet known but it’s feared people carelessly lighting barbecues in the forest or tossing cigarette ends into the undergrowth sparked it.
But arson, with the blaze being deliberately started, hasn’t been ruled out.
Last weekend dozens of wildfires broke out and destroyed swathes of countryside the length of Britain, during the warmest Easter weekend on record.
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The fires hit Moray, Scotland, Blaenau Ffestiniog, north Wales, Dartmoor in Devon and on moors in West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester.
On February 26th, during the heatwave, two separate blazes in Ashdown Forest started within an hour of each other in the forest on the hottest February day on record.
Firefighters said more than 35 hectares had been ravaged.
The Hundred Acre Wood, from A.A. Milne’s children’s books, is actually named after the Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest.
The author lived at Cotchford Farm, Hartfield, which was just north of Ashdown Forest.
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The Met Office’s long-range weather forecast says higher than average temperatures are more likely all the way to the beginning of July.
Although it’s not yet possible to predict exactly how hot it will get in coming months, the long-range outlook is currently looking on the warmer side over the coming weeks.
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