Wildfire on Suffolk coast near nuclear power station ‘stabilised’

Fire crews battling a large wildfire near Britain’s biggest nuclear power station said the blaze has stabilised overnight, but have warned that the risk of fresh outbreaks remains high.The fire near Sizewell B on the Suffolk coast has devastated an area equivalent to around 210 football pitches and forced locals and holidaymakers to flee.Deputy chief fire officer for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service Henry Griffin told reporters on Friday that an investigation has been launched into how the fire started at RSPB Minsmere and then spread to nearby heathland.His firefighters have been tackling the blaze in Dunwich Heath, near Leiston, since Wednesday evening, with more than 100 firefighters deployed and a helicopter being used to drop thousands of litres of seawater onto the burning land.The fire is a few miles away from Sizewell B and the construction site for the new Sizewell C, though authorities stressed there was no concern about the fire spreading towards the power station.The blaze caused holidaymakers to flee (Joe Giddens/PA)PA WireMr Griffin said: “We have a couple of fire fronts we are actively monitoring, checking on their wind speed, checking on that wind direction, to make sure any reignition is controlled and monitored throughout the coming hours.“Due to the scale and unpredictable nature of the wind direction I wouldn’t say it is under control, it’s certainly stabilised and we have plans in place to mitigate.”Mr Griffin said he wanted to offer “thanks and praise” to every firefighter working on tackling the fire, saying their welfare was of “primary importance”.He added: “That’s something we’re actively looking at now so that we can get people back to their belongings, back to their vehicles, to get away from their holiday locations, because the risk will remain high over the coming days of fire reignition.”The blaze is close to Britain’s biggest nuclear power station (Joe Giddens/PA)PA WireOn Thursday, the service said the area affected had grown to 150 hectares with 18 fire engines and more than 100 firefighters at the scene.Around 50 people have been evacuated from their homes and a local holiday park and Cliff House Holiday Park, containing some 200 caravans, had also been completely evacuated as a precaution.According to the Met Office, Suffolk has only received 2% of its average monthly rainfall for July so far.