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Home » News & Events » 2011 » August » Warning following unattended campfire on Malvern Hills

Warning following unattended campfire on Malvern Hills

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A walker alerted the emergency services at around 11.45am, after noticing the fire burning unattended near the summit of Midsummer Hill.


Two fire engines and the off-road vehicle from Malvern attended and crews extinguished the fire with the use of a high pressure hose reel.

Watch Commander Saul Bolton from H&WFRS said: "It took our crews nearly an hour to locate the incident, and they found a large deep-seated fire which had most probably been burning all night."

He explained how firefighters used the 40 litres of water from their backpacks to tackle the fire initially, but this was not enough to bring the fire under control and so they then used the high pressure hose reel from the off-road vehicle to extinguish it.

He added: "The fire had penetrated deep into the peaty soil found on the Malvern Hills and so firefighters had to dig down around a foot or so using shovels and pick axes to ensure the fire was completely extinguished and to prevent any further spread."

He praised the walker for reporting the fire and urged everyone visiting the Malvern Hills to respect the 'No Campfires' rule, both for their own safety and the safety of others, and also to prevent harm to the wildlife and vegetation on the hills.