More than 60 firefighters from various stations rushed to Upton Heath just before 2.30pm on Thursday August 4 to tackle a blaze which destroyed around 0.6ha of land and forced wildlife to be moved to safety. With the only viable access point to the fire located along a slip road from the Upton roundabout on the A35, police and Dorset Council members closed the slip to allow dozens of fire engines to enter the scene. The service was also assisted by representatives from the Urban Heaths Partnership and Dorset Wildlife Trust who managed to move the cattle away from the flames while firefighters worked to extinguish them. Residents were asked to avoid the area. Upton Heath fire. Image: Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service At the scene, incident commander Allan Frias-Robles told the Echo: “At around 2.30pm we received reports of this fire in Upton Heath. Fire crews initially attended from Redhill, Westbourne, Ringwood and Wimborne. “At the height of the fire we had 10 fire engines, four land rovers, two water tankers and a Unimog tackling the fire to stop it spreading before it reached the overhead power pylons. The incident commander has just told me that the fire, which destroyed 0.6 hectares of heathland, is now fully extinguished. Crews will continue to get wet for at least 2 more hours. @Bournemouthecho pic.twitter.com/CA7TboeOZX
— Andrew Goldman (@AndrewDailyEcho) August 4, 2022 “We were lucky that the fire was on a fairly thin strip and thankfully the wind conditions played a big part in stopping it from spreading so quickly – that really helped us. “As the site was limited to a single entrance and we had to close the slippery dual carriageway, crews worked very quickly and hard in hot conditions to stop the fire from spreading.” Fire in Upton Heath on 4 August 2022 He added that while the cause of the fire is still under investigation, at this stage it is believed to have been started deliberately. A ranger from the Urban Heaths Partnership said the fire was “heartbreaking” but that the cattle had been saved by the quick response of many agencies. Fire crews remained at the scene for several hours even after the fire was extinguished shortly after 4 p.m.