Firefighters in Suffolk have been working throughout the night to try to contain a huge fire, in an operation that stretched into the early hours. The blaze broke out just hours after half of England had been officially declared to be in drought, underlining the growing risk posed by the dry conditions across the country.
The fire took hold at Dunwich Heath, a National Trust site on the Suffolk coast. The location has drawn particular attention, as the heath sits just a few miles away from the Sizewell nuclear power project, near Ipswich, adding to the concern surrounding the incident as crews were called in overnight.
A major incident has been declared in connection with the fire, and members of the public are being urged to avoid the area while crews work to bring the flames under control. The declaration reflects the scale of the response now under way at the coastal heathland site.
It was not the only fire that crews had to tackle. In Romford, around 60 firefighters spent more than two hours bringing a separate blaze under control, a sign of how stretched services have been as hot and dry weather increases the number of call-outs linked to fires across the region.
The fires come against the backdrop of an unusually dry spell. The south of England has seen just 1% of its usual rainfall this month, an extreme shortfall that has left the ground parched and vegetation tinder-dry, creating conditions in which fires can start easily and spread quickly.
The pressure on water resources is already being felt more widely. More than 20 million people are now under hosepipe bans, while the hot weather is drying out crops and leaving farmers facing failing harvests. Alongside those effects sits the ever-present risk of fire, which the latest blazes in Suffolk have brought sharply into focus.