Heathland fires believed to be deliberate
DWFRSMultiple heathland fires that were tackled by more than 60 firefighters are believed to have been started deliberately, emergency services have said.
Crews from Dorset and Wiltshire were called to Sandford Heath and Great Ovens Hill, near Wareham, on Saturday evening.
An area about 230ft by 98ft (70m by 30m) was found ablaze at Sandford Heath, with multiple fires discovered soon after on the nearby Great Ovens Hill.
Dorset Police confirmed the "cause of the fires was believed to be suspicious" and its investigation was ongoing.
Station manager Tim Kench said when crews arrived they were faced with "multiple areas of the heathland" on fire.
He described conditions as "arduous" and said it was "very difficult to get access due to the terrain".
"It is quite remote from any water supply so we needed to make sure that we had got the right amount of resources, at the right place at the right time," he said.
Although firefighting concluded in the early hours of Sunday morning, the service said crews would be returning to check for hot spots.
Howard Inns, vice-chairman of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, explained it was the time of year when reptiles emerge from hibernation.
"The area seems completely blackened, there's very little green left here," he said.
"When they come out of hibernation there's nothing for them to feed on, unless they can get away to undamaged parts of the habitat but they will be subject to predators like birds of prey.
"The areas of heathland is subject to an awful lot of conservation work and a tremendous amount of effort is going into joining up the areas to help the animals," he added.
The fire meant reptiles such as sand lizard and smooth snakes would have lost their "whole ecosystem", Inns added.
