Overview
- The wildfire that began last Wednesday has largely been contained but remains active with crews monitoring and extinguishing persistent hotspots across the heath.
- Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service is treating the event as a major incident and is using drones and a firefighting helicopter to find and tackle smouldering pockets of ground.
- Authorities have imposed an exclusion zone of roughly 2.5 sq km and closed roads and footpaths while warning that surface temperatures can reach about 60°C and subsurface temperatures can be far higher.
- Firefighters have repeatedly had to divert resources to escort onlookers and dog walkers away from closed areas, which officials say risks public safety and slows suppression work.
- The National Trust has called the landscape 'unrecognisable', launched an emergency fundraising appeal, and an investigation into the fire's cause is due to begin shortly as dry, hot weather raises flare-up risk.