Dartmoor fire: Public urged to stay away as ‘extremely dangerous’ 5km blaze is contained

Residents were warned that trying to get a glimpse of the fire is “not an essential journey”

A major fire that broke out in Dartmoor in Devon appears to have been contained, the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said early Friday.

Photographs and video of the blaze showed the night sky lit up on Thursdayby miles of orange flame that could be seen from as far as Plymouth and Cornwall.

The Devon and Somerset Fire Rescue Service said overnight that it did not believe there to be any “risk to life in the path of the fire”.

However, it warned residents in a Twitter statement to stay away from the blaze after the fire service became aware of people having “arrived nearby to get a glimpse/photo of the fire”.

“This is extremely dangerous and certainly not an essential journey!” the fire service tweeted. “Please stay away from the area for your own safety.”

Read more:Large fire breaks out in Dartmoor national park

By Friday morning, a spokesperson for the fire service told The Independent they believed the fire had been contained.

“We’ve not seen any further fire spread,” the spokesperson said. However, they said crews were still “out looking to see where the fire is at the moment, if there is any fire.”

The spokesperson said the fire service had been fighting the blaze “defensively” due to strong winds. That means its efforts were aimed at preventing the situation from worsening until conditions could improve for the service to do more.

Dartmoor National Park emergency officer Rob Steemson said that, “all being well,” the fire would be likely to “peter out when it goes out of the wind and into the river valleys”.

At the time, the emergency officer had estimated the blaze to be about 5km wide.

It is still unclear how the fire began.

The Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has said it will have more updates throughout Friday morning.