Firefighters battle outbreak of fires in near Emsworth started by youths as police attend

Four fires were extinguished by firefighters from Havant, Emsworth and Liphook at Hollybank Woods, off Emsworth Common Road, between 6pm and 7.30pm.

The fires were started after youths set logs alight as police were called to the scene.

One of the blazes spread to 10 metres in length – but crews attending said it could have been much worse if there had been wind.

“It was a challenge to put out the fires but thankfully there was not a lot of wind otherwise it could have spread and been quite bad,” an attending firefighter said.

“There’s been quite a few of these type of fires over the last few weeks.”

The fires were extinguished using hose reels, a Land Rover fire truck from Liphook and special ‘beaters’ for wild fires – a long pole with rubber on the end of it.

No one was injured.