{"id":2241785,"date":"2026-11-06T06:36:29","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2241785"},"modified":"2026-11-06T06:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:36:29","slug":"new-images-show-scale-of-devastating-dunwich-heath-wildfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2241785","title":{"rendered":"New images show scale of devastating Dunwich Heath wildfire"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/80ed\/live\/39ad5270-d92a-11f1-93e1-3b657b665bcf.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Aerial images show extent of wildfire damage at Dunwich Heath<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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New aerial images have been released which show the devastating impact of a wildfire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It is three months since a blaze ravaged Dunwich Heath in Suffolk, which the National Trust has warned faces “a long recovery”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 104 hectares (257 acres) of heathland were destroyed, and recent monitoring has shown “significant impacts” on the health of the soil.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The destruction has been so complete that [although] we will see some early regrowth, a full recovery is likely to take decades,” said the trust’s Russell Clement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He added: “This is the beginning of a very long journey, but after three challenging months, we are looking to the future with hope.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"NationalNational Trust\/John Miller<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Dunwich Heath before and after July’s fire, showing the extent of the damage<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Clement, the charity’s general manager for Suffolk and Essex Coast, thanked the public after thousands of people donated to an emergency fundraiser.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than \u00a3500,000 is being used to fund two years of repair and recovery work at the heath, which is not expected to fully reopen for “many months”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"RyanRyan Lovejoy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Firefighters spent two weeks tackling the flames in July, during the UK’s hottest summer on record<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Since August, teams have been monitoring cliff stability and burn severity, and testing soil, water, and ash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Some areas of soil lost 82% of their organic matter, making it harder to store water and more vulnerable to drought, the trust said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Clement added: “The intensity of the blaze was absolutely astounding”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s not only things above the ground that have burned: tree roots have burned down to a metre below ground level.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“What that means is the entire seed bank and topsoil has been sterilised and lost,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"NationalNational Trust\/Bluesky UAV Specialists<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
East Suffolk Council’s coastal team has been helping to assess the stability of the cliffs, which were also burned<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Experts have also inspected “badly burned” trees which were left standing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The trust’s coast and countryside manager, Matt Wilson, said: “We don’t yet know the full impact on the trees.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Some were felled while the fire was burning, to help with access, but many of those still standing will have been weakened and may not survive the winter storms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We need to make sure the site is safe for visitors,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The charity, which owns and manages Dunwich Heath, said it hoped to “retain as many trees as possible” but “any found to be a risk will need to be removed”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As well as the trees, unstable terrain, high ground temperatures and dust pollution are also concerns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Even for us that know the site really well – it’s really difficult to navigate. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Most of those visual markers, and the places that people think they know, do not look the same currently,” said Wilson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"NationalNational Trust\/Bluesky UAV Specialists<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The soil has suffered a heavy loss of organic matter while many trees were also damaged<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Clement said they were seeing “really positive signs for wildlife”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“One thing we can be grateful for is we didn’t find a lot of animal remains, so we know that most of the fauna will have escaped the blaze.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Large parts of RSPB Minsmere were also damaged during the wildfire. How it started is still not known.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Wilson added: “The biggest worry for me is the loss of vegetation and that organic layer on the soil. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“There is nothing here for the wildlife that would normally call it home to return to.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said they were “seeing some signs of recovery”, but it was on a “very, very small scale”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AlexAlex Dunlop\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Matt Wilson says recovery will be slow<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For Wilson and his colleagues, the sense of loss is immense.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Growing up, I came here as a child. My children came here on family holidays. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s always been part and parcel of my life, even before working for the National Trust.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“My heart drops every time I drive in through the entrance,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Clement agrees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It was a horrific, emotional experience for everyone involved. I have some volunteers and staff who’ve worked literally 20 to 30 years in this landscape.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Now they are focusing all their efforts on slowly restoring that landscape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“There are things we can do, and nature often has the solution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s making it wetter where we can, improving the mosaic, looking at the diversity of the species,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We will make the landscape more resilient and better able to adapt to the new climate that it’s finding itself in,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow Suffolk news on <\/i>BBC Sounds<\/i>, <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>Instagram<\/i> and <\/i>X<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cq78p3p35d09o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/80ed\/live\/39ad5270-d92a-11f1-93e1-3b657b665bcf.jpg”] Aerial images show extent of wildfire damage at Dunwich Heath New aerial images have been released which show the devastating impact of a wildfire. It is three months since a blaze ravaged Dunwich Heath in Suffolk, which the National Trust has warned faces “a long recovery”. More than 104 hectares (257 acres) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2241785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2241785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2241785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2241785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2241785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}