Suffolk wildfire evacuees given ‘small window’ to collect belongings

Evacuated Suffolk residents and holidaymakers will have a “small window of opportunity” to collect some of their belongings on Friday afternoon, officials said.Those who have been forced to flee by the large wildfire will be taken in a minibus to collect their things in a 15-minute window under police escort.Peter Langford, the emergency planning officer for Suffolk County Council, told evacuated residents and holidaymakers they will be able to collect “essential” items.Mr Langford said during a meeting at Westleton Village Hall, which has been used as a rest centre: “We have a very small window of opportunity to go in and pick up personal possessions, essential ones only, (such as) medication, and bring cars out.“It is still a fast moving situation, as it is, from the fire perspective. It is still an unstable situation.”He added: “Don’t put anybody else’s life at risk because when you get there, police are going to be escorting you and they’re going to wait and escort you out.”Officials warned that the risk of fresh outbreaks remains high (Humphrey Nemar/PA)PA WireIn a 2pm update, Suffolk County Council said a helicopter will be brought in to drop around 1,000 litres of seawater with every pass over the scene, to tackle areas difficult to access by foot or vehicle.The council described the incident as “dynamic and potentially changeable”.It comes as the National Trust announced it is launching an emergency fundraising appeal after the fire ripped through the Dunwich Heath reserve, leaving it “unrecognisable”.The charity said the heath is an important area for specialist wildlife such as nightjars, skylarks and the rare Dartford warbler, as well as adders, lizards and slow-worms, and butterflies including the rare silver-studded blue.The lowland heath habitat found at the reserve is one of the UK’s rarest, with an estimated 92% of it lost in England over the last 120 years, it added.Residents described scenes of devastation (Humphrey Nemar/PA)PA WireEastbridge resident Charlotte Du Cann, 70, first alerted the fire service to the blaze after she saw a “furious” circle of flames which she tried to stamp out with her feet.Read MoreShe said she heard a “crackle” walking back from the beach at the heath.“Then my friend, who was with me, said: ‘I smell smoke’ and we both looked down and there, quite a way down, quite away from everything, was a circle of fire,” Ms Du Cann said.“It was not big – maybe 20ft across.“So we’re jumping on it, trying to stamp it out, totally unreliable footwear. I think if we had fire beaters we might have been able to get it out, but there was just no way because it suddenly lit the heather.Authorities warned the situation is changeable (Joe Giddens/PA)PA Wire“We were just trying to get it out with our feet but they were totally inadequate.”Ms Du Cann, a writer and editor, said it was devastating to see her “heartland” destroyed by the blaze, adding: “It will take so long to recover. I may be dead before it gets recovered.”Fire services across the country say they have been tackling fires in the open in recent weeks, amid hot and dry conditions which have seen half of England and all of Wales plunged into drought.Crews in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, London, North Wales, Yorkshire, County Durham and Darlington, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Humberside, Dorset and Wiltshire, Devon and Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent, and Merseyside have all reported dealing with recent outdoor fires.On Tuesday, the National Fire Chiefs Council said more than 200 wildfires had been reported in England and Wales in less than two weeks, warning wildfire risk remains “elevated”.