Myself and Mrs.Badger tootled off down to Chopwell Wood, yesterday, around 4.45pm.
When we came out of the house, we could smell what seemed to be garden fire smoke and, recalling the sound of several sirens earlier on while waiting for her at Tesco's, I said that it smelled more like woodsmoke to me.
Anyway we drove down there and, on the way, noticed large amounts of smoke, settling in the meadows but there has been some commercial charcoal making going on lately, so assumed there was another burn in progress.
We arrived in the main carpark, to find a fire engine re-filling its water tank and hoses all over the place!
A firefighter signalled us to stop, then came across to tell us to turn round and leave immediately, as they had "a serious incident ongoing"
I explained my connection with the wood and asked if they needed any barriers opened for access but the lad explained that, luckily, there were some FC staff on site and they were assisting where required. I asked how big it was and he replied that they had 10 appliances on site, they were expecting more imminently and that they were worried that the fire could well reach the carpark.
I then wished him good luck and left. I then decided to try to establish where the fire was and how big an area was affected, so drove a couple of miles up to Medomsley and pulled off the road at a convenient spot.
What I saw across the valley:
This was taken without zoom, actually from a video, so the quality is poor but it gives an idea of the area involved. it looks small but is in fact pretty big.
This was zoomed in a fair bit:
and then on full zoom:
but it's not till you watch this, that you get a real taste of how hairy it must have been on site!:
[video=youtube;rFruAN7z1pM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFruAN7z1pM[/video]
The area affected was clear felled in 1996 or thereabouts and was then,more or less, left to revert to "lowland heath" (as a bit of an experiment I think) Anyway, it ended up a tangled mix of gorse, natural regen tree's, mainly young birch with a scattering of conifers and a screening on the north edge of larch.
It was packed with birds, small mammals, at least one badger sett and it is believed by locals( though not officially confirmed) to be inhabited by grass snakes too.
Well all that came to an end, when "someone" decided to set fire to some gorse bushes next to one of the paths, presumably for a laugh.
Now then; at about 3.40pm,a retired couple, out walking in the wood, were startled when a group of 4 kids came tearing towards them and then ran past laughing and shouting "fire fire". The old couple kept walking and found the blaze already way beyond control, about a hundred yards or so further down the path. Luckily, the wind was at their backs so they just quickly turned tail and used their mobile to call the emergency services.
To be fair; the information regarding the couple and the kids is currently just hearsay but from a very reliable source.
The real point is that you really do need to be careful how and where you light a fire. This is almost certainly arson, as opposed to a genuine accidental fire, but it could easily have been someone lighting a hobo stove or similar, without thinking or knowing any better.
Bloody shame regardless and I sincerely hope they catch the twxxs who lit it and take them to the cleaners.
cheers
R.B.
When we came out of the house, we could smell what seemed to be garden fire smoke and, recalling the sound of several sirens earlier on while waiting for her at Tesco's, I said that it smelled more like woodsmoke to me.
Anyway we drove down there and, on the way, noticed large amounts of smoke, settling in the meadows but there has been some commercial charcoal making going on lately, so assumed there was another burn in progress.
We arrived in the main carpark, to find a fire engine re-filling its water tank and hoses all over the place!
A firefighter signalled us to stop, then came across to tell us to turn round and leave immediately, as they had "a serious incident ongoing"
I explained my connection with the wood and asked if they needed any barriers opened for access but the lad explained that, luckily, there were some FC staff on site and they were assisting where required. I asked how big it was and he replied that they had 10 appliances on site, they were expecting more imminently and that they were worried that the fire could well reach the carpark.
I then wished him good luck and left. I then decided to try to establish where the fire was and how big an area was affected, so drove a couple of miles up to Medomsley and pulled off the road at a convenient spot.
What I saw across the valley:
This was taken without zoom, actually from a video, so the quality is poor but it gives an idea of the area involved. it looks small but is in fact pretty big.
This was zoomed in a fair bit:
and then on full zoom:
but it's not till you watch this, that you get a real taste of how hairy it must have been on site!:
[video=youtube;rFruAN7z1pM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFruAN7z1pM[/video]
The area affected was clear felled in 1996 or thereabouts and was then,more or less, left to revert to "lowland heath" (as a bit of an experiment I think) Anyway, it ended up a tangled mix of gorse, natural regen tree's, mainly young birch with a scattering of conifers and a screening on the north edge of larch.
It was packed with birds, small mammals, at least one badger sett and it is believed by locals( though not officially confirmed) to be inhabited by grass snakes too.
Well all that came to an end, when "someone" decided to set fire to some gorse bushes next to one of the paths, presumably for a laugh.
Now then; at about 3.40pm,a retired couple, out walking in the wood, were startled when a group of 4 kids came tearing towards them and then ran past laughing and shouting "fire fire". The old couple kept walking and found the blaze already way beyond control, about a hundred yards or so further down the path. Luckily, the wind was at their backs so they just quickly turned tail and used their mobile to call the emergency services.
To be fair; the information regarding the couple and the kids is currently just hearsay but from a very reliable source.
The real point is that you really do need to be careful how and where you light a fire. This is almost certainly arson, as opposed to a genuine accidental fire, but it could easily have been someone lighting a hobo stove or similar, without thinking or knowing any better.
Bloody shame regardless and I sincerely hope they catch the twxxs who lit it and take them to the cleaners.
cheers
R.B.
