Prestwick Carr fire: Concerns about wildlife damage

The scale of damage to habitats and wildlife by a wildfire will "probably never be known", a conservation charity has said.

It began on Wednesday at Prestwick Carr nature reserve, near Newcastle airport.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust said due to the area being dry it would probably "smoulder for a long time".

Tyne and Wear fire service described the situation as like "chasing the fire around" as it kept breaking out in different areas.

"It is travelling amongst the peat and undergrowth, it is then coming up the roots and the deep-seated undergrowth and re-emerging in a different area," group manager Steve Burdess told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"We do need a change in the weather as well, that will be a great assistance to us."

However, Mr Burdess added the firefighting operation was "preventing the damage going further and causing more damage to a lovely area".

Nesting birds

Specialist machinery has been authorised by the Ministry of Defence to try and create firebreaks to tackle the blaze, as well as a misting system.

Firefighters were forced to scale back their response on Wednesday night due to "dangers to crews".

Firefighters had to scale back their operation at times due to the dangers posed to crews

The area contains peat, which burns "very well but slowly", said Duncan Hutt, director of conservation at Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

Mr Hutt said he had been on trust land close to the fire and there was "certainly still smoke in the air".

"The bigger concern from a conservation point of view is that it might have got into the peat.

"It can smoulder for a long time unless it's waterlogged."

Firefighters were given refreshments by a local supermarket as they working in sweltering conditions

He said the scale of damage caused to wildlife and their habitats was likely to remain unknown.

"Clearly the fire damages habitats straight away. Any wildlife in the way will get caught up in that - so there's an immediate effect.

"It's taken some trees out on the site, which could well have had nesting birds. So this also affects animals' homes."

The fire has affected an area of about 10 acres, which is the size of four or five football pitches

The wildlife trust is warning the public to be fire-risk-averse during the hot weather.

"Don't discard cigarettes, don't have BBQs, don't have open fires," he added.

"All of those things have easy potential to get out of control and cause huge amounts of damage.

"The firefighters themselves are... in danger, putting the fires out."