Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

Carn Brea, Redruth at 26/05/2015 20:55

At 20:55 this evening Cornwall Fire Control received the first of circa 200 - 999 calls to an amount of gorse on fire on Carn Brea, Pool. One appliance with five firefighters from Camborne, Pool & Redruth (CPR) Community Fire station was mobilised to the incident. Soon after arrival crews requested a second appliance attend to assist deal with an area of 70 x 70 metres of medium to high gorse alight. A second appliance from CPR with six firefighters on board was mobilised to the scene. Strong winds were fanning the flames and at 21:15 a request for four fire appliances to attend was made, a third appliance from CPR with six crew was mobilised to the incident with the fourth attending appliance being sent from Hayle with six on board. A water carrier from Helston with three on board was also mobilised. At 21:49 approximately three hectares of gorse was well alight, the incident had been sectorised and was being approached from the top and bottom of the Carn by firefighters using beaters. 22:10 an assistance message for a fifth appliance to attend was made. The fifth appliance to attend was on standby at the CPR Community fire station from Helston with six riders on board. Currently (23:25) good progress is being made on one front, a second front is being allowed to burn to a natural break. Western power has been informed of the incident due to the possibility of high flames affecting overhead cables. Police have also been requested to attend this area due to members of the public driving up to look at the fire and causing access problems.
07:00 27/05/15 The gorse fire is largely out, one crew of five firefighters from Falmouth remain on scene damping down hotspots and turning over. A specialist wild fire officer is attending the scene to assess the situation during daylight hours to determine if any further actions are required.
Incident details will be updated as and when they become available.