PICTURES show the extent of the heath fire which rapidly engulfed a large section of Parley Common earlier today (Wednesday).
Fire crews descended on the common area behind The Centre in Barns Road, Ferndown, just before 12pm to tackle the blaze, which was extinguished by using two main lines and three hose reel jets.
It took crews close to an hour to fully extinguish the fire, however they remained on scene for some time afterwards to ensure no remaining hotspots could be found.
After fire crews left the scene, the Echo spoke with a dog walker and Ferndown resident who says he initially thought the blaze was a controlled burning.
He said: “You get controlled burning over here quite a bit and I was talking to somebody on the top about it. We thought that’s what it was at first, but then I said that it was getting too big for that.
“We looked out and realised it was a proper fire so I phoned the [fire service] up but a lady in the community centre had already called.
This is the aftermath of a heath fire on a section of Parley Common, a short walk away from The Centre in Ferndown. @Bournemouthecho pic.twitter.com/xcROTiYM80
— Andrew Goldman (@AndrewDailyEcho) March 23, 2022
“They came out very quickly, around three or four crews who got straight to it. It started off small in a corner but the breeze took it further. I wouldn’t say it was raging, but the flames reached around [4 feet] high. You never know what’s going to happen, do you?”
The man also said he saw a deer leap from the burning heathland and into a nearby wooded area. He added the deer appeared unscathed by the fire.
The now black and charred section of heathland is a short walk away from The Centre in Barns Road, which used in part as a children’s nursery.
A spokesperson for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews from Ferndown, Redhill Park and Poole, along with 4x4 pumping appliances from Wimborne and Ringwood, the Unimog from Wareham and a water carrier from Ringwood attended the incident which involved an area of heath measuring approximately 300m by 100m.”
No details on the cause of the fire were available, the spokesperson said.
More follows.
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