Nearly 40 fire fighters tackle "deliberate" fire on Canford Heath

Fire fighters from Poole and Wimborne dashed to the scene at about 9.30pm with a heavy off-road vehicle and a Land Rover after nearly 40 people dialled 999.

But fire crews quickly deployed a further four fire engines, six Land Rovers, a “Unimog” fire fighting appliance, a command support unit, and a welfare unit as the scale of the blaze emerged.

Crews used high-pressure water jets from the Land Rovers and beaters to tackle the fire, finally putting out the blaze at 11.30pm.

But crews remained on the scene until 6am on Sunday (15) in a “damping down” exercise to prevent re-ignition and returned later for a further inspection.

A spokesperson for Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said the cause of the fire was believed to be deliberate and had severely damaged three hectares of heath land.