{"id":331792,"date":"2025-08-10T00:06:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T00:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/331792\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T00:06:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T00:06:16","slug":"major-incident-declared-as-crews-battle-holt-heath-fire-near-wimborne-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/331792\/","title":{"rendered":"Major incident declared as crews battle Holt Heath fire near Wimborne | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major incident has been declared as about 100 firefighters tackle a blaze at Holt Heath near Wimborne in Dorset.<\/p>\n

The public have been warned to stay away and the fire service said it was trying to protect nearby properties by surrounding the blaze.<\/p>\n

Twenty homes have been evacuated as a precaution and locals told to keep windows and doors shut.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The fire covers an area about 1000m x 800m <\/p>\n

Pictures showed smoke billowing into the air from the scene, just north of Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was called around 11.30am, adding that the fire was being whipped up by the wind.<\/p>\n

“This fire is moving quickly and they [the public] could easily get caught out if they are too close and the fire spreads towards them,” said a statement.<\/p>\n

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Crews could be at the scene for several days, said a senior firefighter, as hotter temperatures are forecast this week – prompting an amber wildfire alert in the area.<\/p>\n

Antony Bholah, the service’s area manager, said at least 20 engines were involved in the operation and that neighbouring fire services were also helping.<\/p>\n

He said the fire covered an area about 1000m by 800m and expected it would be a few days before it’s full extinguished.<\/p>\n

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“There are some areas that are really difficult to access,” said Mr Bholah.<\/p>\n

“So we’re being very cautious about how we approach it and we might call on some additional resources later on this evening.”<\/p>\n

It’s not yet confirmed how it started, but he said an investigation would be carried out with police and prosecutions could follow if necessary.<\/p>\n

The public has been warned not to fly drones over the fire as they could interfere with firefighters’ own drones.<\/p>\n

Read more:
At least two dead as wildfires sweep Greece, Turkey and France<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Crews are also still tackling another fire in Dorset – at Newton Heath, near Swanage – that’s been burning since last Sunday and affects 21 hectares.<\/p>\n

That fire is believed to have been started on purpose.<\/p>\n

People are being urged to make sure cigarette ends are extinguished properly and to not throw them on the ground or from cars.<\/p>\n

Barbeques on heath land, countryside or open spaces should also be avoided, warned the Dorset and Wiltshire service.<\/p>\n

Large wildfires burn in Europe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, European nations have been dealing with much more destructive fires in what is becoming a growing problem in the summer.<\/p>\n

At least 1,400 firefighters have been deployed in France’s southern Aude region to try to stop the country’s biggest wildfire in decades from reigniting.<\/p>\n

The blaze was contained on Thursday after burning through 62 square miles this week.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

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1:30<\/p>\n

Wildfires tear through southern Europe<\/p>\n

Spain is also battling a fire in Avila province, 62 miles west of Madrid.<\/p>\n

It had been contained by Saturday afternoon but authorities said the coming hours were critical.<\/p>\n

In Greece, flames were fanned by strong winds in the Keratea region on Friday and reached residential areas 25 miles south of Athens.<\/p>\n

The same day, smoke also temporarily closed the Dardanelles Strait in northwest Turkey, with a nearby university campus and care home also evacuated.<\/p>\n

Local media said the fire started in a field in Canakkale province before spreading to a forested area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major incident has been declared as about 100 firefighters tackle a blaze at Holt Heath near Wimborne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-331792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115001556385381756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}