Firefighters have issued a warning about the dangers of fires in overgrown areas as a fire reignited five days after being put out.
Crews from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to Stainburn Forest near Beckwithshaw last Saturday, where a campfire had spread to surrounding undergrowth and trees, causing damage to an area covering 20m by 20m.
Five days later, on Thursday morning, they were called back to the same spot, where the fire had reignited and spread to a further 20m sq of undergrowth.
Posting on Facebook, a spokesperson for Knaresborough Fire Station said:
“The reignition was caused by hidden residual heat in the undergrowth.
“The images just show how dry the undergrowth is and how deep the compacted forest bed goes – perfect conditions for hidden fire spread…
“All this fire damage was caused by one campfire on dry forest ground! This incident could have been a lot worse as fire would have easily spread to the surrounding trees if it was a windy day.”
Photo by Knaresborough Fire Station
Two tanks of water were used to soak the area and prevent any further fire, while crews cut away the smouldering edges of the site with shovels.
The spokesperson said crews were able to locate the fire precisely because the person who called it in gave a location using the What3Words app. They urged people to download the free app in case they ever need to use it in an emergency.
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