A family of six has fled ‘apocalyptic’ wildfires in Suffolk just days after being forced to do the same by forest blazes in France.
Firefighters have been tackling the blaze in Dunwich Heath, near Leiston, since Wednesday evening, with hundreds of holidaymakers and scores of residents evacuated.
The fire, which is now the size of 210 football pitches, is a few miles away from Sizewell B and the construction site for the new Sizewell C – but authorities insist there is no risk of the fire spreading towards the power station.
While the cause is not yet known, the blaze started on an RSPB wetland reserve before spreading on to the coastal heathland.
Jo Arkle, 42, a renewable energy sector worker whose family from Norfolk had just arrived in Dunwich for a break but were now reloading suitcases into their car, said: ‘It’s time to go.
‘This is the second time we had to evacuate – we had to leave France before we came here. We thought we’d stick it out a little longer and see what happens.’
She and her family were close to Cotignac in France last week, where wildfires have burned across 42,000 hectares.
She added: ‘It’s quite stressful, definitely. You realise quite quickly there’s nothing you can do about it. The smoke was coming up right across here.’
One of the family’s teenagers said: ‘It’s scary when you go to bed. You don’t know if it’s going to get worse overnight.’
Dozens of farmers have joined efforts to slow the progress of the ‘apocalyptic’ fire with many using their tractors to transport water bowsers.
Richard Negus, a hedgelayer, told the Daily Mail: ‘We got contacted across Suffolk through the farm watch network to ask if we had water bowsers to help with the wildfire.’
‘So farmers put their combine harvesters down and joined the efforts at Dunwich Heath. Farmers did what they do when we’re asked to bring kit and they all rushed to the fire and the farmers managed to help get it under control.’
Today, another fire has broken out at Middlewick Ranges near Colchester in Essex. Firefighters are currently at the scene battling to bring the blaze under control.
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Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze at Dunwich Heath, Suffolk covered around 24 acres, but today this had increased to the size of 210 football pitches
A helicopter drops water on the wildfire. It is understood the fire started on an RSPB wetland reserve with the cause of the ‘apocalyptic’ blaze not yet known
Drone footage shows the scorched woodland surrounding a caravan park in Suffolk
Firefighters tackle the blaze at Dunwich Heath. Heroic stories are emerging of how dozens of farmers joined efforts to slow the progress of the fire
Pictured: A tractor joins emergency vehicles to tackle the blaze in Suffolk. Dozens of farmers have joined efforts to slow the progress of the ‘apocalyptic’ fire
Mr Negus also claimed that one volunteer found ‘remnants of an open fire’: ‘[The open fire] shows people aren’t aware of the consequences of their activity.
‘Our site team has been working alongside the emergency services, surveying the areas the fire has been through – it’s complete devastation.’
A woman who first alerted the fire service to the Suffolk wildfire has told of seeing a ‘furious’ circle of flames which she tried to stamp out with her feet.
Charlotte Du Cann, 70, said she heard crackling while she was walking back from swimming in the sea with her friend at about 5pm on Wednesday.
Ms Du Cann, who has lived in the nearby village of Eastbridge for 20 years, described the extent the fire has grown since she first alerted the emergency services as ‘devastating’.
Speaking on Friday outside the village hall in Westleton, which has been used as a rest centre for evacuated residents and holidaymakers, she said: ‘I was first on scene, as they say.
‘I was walking back from Dunwich Heath, the beach, so we’ve just crossed into Minsmere Woods and I heard a crackle and thought ‘what is that?’
‘Then my friend, who was with me, said “I smell smoke” and we both looked down and there, quite a way down, quite away from everything, was a circle of fire.
‘It was not big – maybe 20ft across. So we’re jumping on it, trying to stamp it out, totally unreliable footwear. I think if we had fire beaters we might have been able to get it out, but there was just no way because it suddenly lit the heather.
‘We were just trying to get it out with our feet but they were totally inadequate.’
She added: ‘It was quite low with the heather, but it was furious, you know, it’s really hot with the heather because it’s tinder. But as soon as it hit the Scots pine it went right up.’
Ms Du Cann said the noise of the trees burning was ‘horrible’, describing how she was near the fire for about 20 minutes but rang the fire service ‘straight away’ and gave the coordinates of where it had started.
Ms Du Cann, a writer and editor, said she saw no evidence that the fire was started by human activity.
She said: ‘It’s quite a way off the path. I mean, nobody would go down there to smoke a cigarette.
‘There was no cigarette butt, no kind of camping equipment or barbecue – anything that looked like it could start a fire.
‘It was devastating. I mean, I live here. This is my heartland. I’m a writer, I write about this area.
‘I just can’t bear the thought of all these wild things that have gone up in flames. It’s really heartbreaking.’ It will take so long to recover. I may be dead before it gets recovered.’
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said today crews and officers remained at the incident. The service said the fire remained a ‘dynamic incident’ but appeared to be ‘stabilising’ today.
Fire crews from London, Essex and West Yorkshire have joined local firefighters and helicopters – which were seen scooping up seawater in an effort to bring the wildfires under control.
Ms Arkle said that communication had been better in France, including alerts sent to their phones, adding: ‘There”s no reception here, no wifi, so that’s why we decided to go. Without power, how do we know unless we get a knock on the door?’
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service has thanked the ‘firefighters, specialist equipment and resources’ that had been sent to work alongside its crews.
‘We are incredibly grateful for the support they have provided during this challenging incident,’ it said.
‘We would also like to thank the many local businesses, farmers, volunteers, community groups and partner agencies who have stepped forward to help.
‘Whether it’s been donating food and drinks, lending equipment, providing practical support, or helping to look after those affected by the incident, people have gone above and beyond.’
A helicopter flies water collected from the sea to drop on the wildfire at Dunwich Heath, near Leiston, close to the Sizewell B. Fire crews warned that the blaze near the nuclear power plant was still a ‘dynamic incident’
Adam Rowlands, RSPB area manager in Suffolk, said: ‘We know right across the heathland that risk is there at this time of year when the habitat is so dry […] that first spark emerged from the RSPB land and that’s devastating to know.’
He also warned that it could take 25 years for the area around Dunwich Heath to recover.
‘The problem is [the area] will look like a scene of devastation afterwards. All the vegetation will go and the majority of those birds will lose the places where they nest,’ he told BBC News.
Mr Rowlands added: ‘Some of that habitat will take five, 10, 25 years to come back to what it looked like before the fire broke out yesterday afternoon.’
National Trust said that ‘Total devastation’ is the most likely outcome of the fire.
Matt Wilson, the charity’s countryside manager for Suffolk, said: ‘The impact on this site in particular is looking to be fairly catastrophic, to be perfectly honest.
An update from Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service this morning said that ‘crews and officers remained at the incident overnight’ and that they ‘maintained a watching brief during darkness’
The fire in Suffolk is seen from a plane flying over the area yesterday morning
‘The fire is estimated to be 150 hectares [371 acres], but the whole of Dunwich Heath owned by the National Trust is just over 100 hectares [247 acres].
‘So we’re looking at total devastation across the National Trust site.’
In a statement on Friday morning, the general manager for the National Trust on the Suffolk Coast, Russell Clement, said: ‘We have been left heartbroken by the total devastation we are now seeing due to the fire at Dunwich Heath, which is one of the UK’s most important coastal heathland landscapes.
‘Although it’s still too early to say what the true impact has been, to both RSPB Minsmere where the fire started and Dunwich Heath, it’s becoming clear that the fire has torn through the entire National Trust reserve and the landscape that we know and love is now unrecognisable.
‘We believe that very little heathland vegetation is left and many wildlife species will have been impacted, now and long into the future.’
Meanwhile, residents and holidaymakers in Suffolk have been warned to keep their windows and doors closed due to the risk of heavy smoke and falling ash.
Around 50 people have been evacuated from their homes and a local holiday park to Westleton, whose village hall now serves as a rest centre.
Drone footage of the wildfire in Colchester today
Speaking to local media, Freddie Gulliver, from the Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit, said there is currently no concern of the fire spreading towards Sizewell B.
Mr Gulliver also told journalists that the local community has been ‘absolutely fantastic’ in opening up their homes, adding only a few people will need to stay in the rest centre on Thursday night.
He praised the local people that run the village hall, adding: ‘They’ve been absolutely brilliant at looking after everyone, so I want to stress my thanks and gratitude to everyone involved.’
Mr Gulliver added that the fire service is ‘confident’ it is tackling the blaze, including by filling trenches with water and dropping thousands of litres of seawater from helicopters.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the county’s fire service will have ‘all of the support’ they need in tackling the blaze.
Meanwhile, Green Party leader Zack Polanski called for Mr Burnham to host an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss the outbreak of wildfires in Britain, including in Suffolk.
On Thursday afternoon, an EDF spokesperson gave reassurances that the fire was ‘not affecting operations at Sizewell B power station’.
The energy supplier said it was ‘closely monitoring the situation’ and it is understood Sizewell B has an emergency plan in place that covers a range of scenarios including a fire on site.
Pictured: A fire at at Middlewick Ranges near Colchester in Essex. Firefighters are currently at the scene battling to bring the blaze under control
Fire crews are seen battling a fire in Romford, east London, yesterday where around 30 acres of grassland were destroyed
Suffolk County Council said Cliff House Holiday Park, containing some 200 caravans, had been completely evacuated as a precaution.
Lisa Gordon, 54, on holiday with her husband and dog in their touring caravan, evacuated from Cliff House Holiday Park on Wednesday night.
Mrs Gordon said: ‘Just looking at the pictures… it’s quite worrying how close it is to the park now.
‘It’s a car, it’s a caravan, and it’s insured but at the end of the day it’s a lot of hassle, isn’t it?
‘They are things that can be replaced. But it’s not the relaxing day we thought we’d be having.’
She said that when she and her husband were told to leave the holiday park, they could see smoke behind the trees.
Mrs Gordon added: ‘It was only as we walked to reception to meet the police that all of a sudden it kind of hit us.
‘So where we were it didn’t seem too bad at all. We weren’t really panicking at all.
‘But as we got to sort of the reception and the entrance, then the smoke hit and we had to drive with the police through quite a lot of smoke.’
Martin Harris, 80, and his wife Sheila Harris, 76, who have visited Dunwich Cliffs Estate holiday park for more than 40 years, said they only had time to pack their medication before leaving their static caravan.
Mrs Harris said they saw a ‘glow’, adding: ‘It went from just being in the distance, and suddenly we were just covered in this black, and it was really scary so we just wanted to get out, really.’
She added: ‘Yesterday, I had a really bad moment because I suddenly thought, “I’ve been on (the caravan) site since 1980”. And I thought, “If the caravan goes, then no chance of affording another one”.
‘I want to make the decision when I leave forever. I don’t want it taken out of my hands.’
She added: ‘I’ve never, ever wanted to go home in all the years I’ve been coming, but today I just want to go home.’
Mr Harris said they were lucky to get a room in a bed and breakfast, adding: ‘A lot of people, they had to sleep in their cars. The people of Westleton have been fantastic. I don’t know what we’d have done without them.’
The couple plan to go home to Uxbridge in west London after collecting some belongings on Friday afternoon, but said they will return to their caravan in two weeks for another visit.
The fire service posted a video of damage caused by the blaze, with parts of RSPB Minsmere nature reserve, showing blackened trees and scorched ground.
Fires have also been raging in east London – where around 30 acres of grassland were destroyed in a blaze in Romford on Thursday, and a further ten acres were damaged in Rainham.
London Fire Brigade reported a second wildfire had broken out in Rainham in the afternoon, while a grass fire in Hornchurch burned across 15 acres.
The fire is now under control, and its cause is currently under investigation.
The number of wildfire incidents recorded this year already matches the total annual figures seen in 2021, 2023 and 2024 combined.
But the number is below the same point in 2025 when long-lasting drought and heat caused severe fire risk.
Temperatures soared across parts of the UK on Wednesday, reaching into the 30s in some places as Britain baked in its fourth heatwave of a record-breaking summer.
Suffolk has only received 2 per cent of its average monthly rainfall for July so far, according to the Met Office.
The forecaster said on Thursday afternoon other counties have recorded as low as one per cent or zero per cent of average rainfall for July, with Friday being the last day of the month.
Going into the weekend, temperatures will be cooler and closer to average for this time of year.
Baroness Therese Coffey, who was MP for Suffolk Coastal until 2024 and used to live in Westleton where wildfire evacuees have been relocated, said Andy Burnham was ‘right’ to offer resources quickly.
Speaking to reporters at Westleton Village Hall, the Conservative peer said: ‘I think the Prime Minister was right to offer resources straight away. It’s good to hear that there was no messing about in regards to that.
‘Indeed we know the fire services have come from across the country in order to help.
‘Clearly, this issue of wildfires around the country needs a careful investigation.”
She added: ‘Let’s see what we can do to actually install, proactively, firebreaks in the future, recognising if we’re going to have these very hot summers for a long time.
‘What’s been nice to see on the TV is people who have opened up their homes.
‘As I say, this reflects the spirit of the community I enjoyed being part of when I was here living in Westleton when I was first elected.’
