'Holme Fen fire smoke is coming closer - it's scary'

A woman who lives near a burning nature reserve says the encroaching threat to local homes is the closest she has known in 20 years.

Julie Heap said she was no stranger to seeing fires at Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire, but the latest one which has engulfed half of the 660-acre woodland site has been different.

"You can see the smoke coming closer, the ambulances are right outside the house and the rapid response team are all there. It's quite scary," said Heap, who lives on Station Road in Holme.

The blaze at the reserve, near Peterborough, has been ongoing since Saturday and is now entering its sixth day.

"We've known the peat fires but it's always seemed to be more inside the fen, inside the woods, not as close to the houses as it seems to be this time," said Heap.

• Why is Holme Fen wildfire lasting days?

She said the smell of burning and smoke had become a constant for her family, who had begun preparing for an order to evacuate.

"We've had to keep the windows closed because of the smoke, but even with the windows closed you can just smell it all through the house," she added.

"You could see the wind was blowing this way... all the smoke coming this way during this whole incident.

"We did ask if we need to start thinking about packing a bag just in case.

"They've [firefighters] been here for days now, all camped up, and the heat as well.

"You're thinking it's supposed to be 35C on Thursday, whatever it's going to be like for them."

The fire service said crews were expected to remain at the reserve into next week.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue area commander Wayne Swales said the incident had "put huge amounts of pressure" on the fire service, which has called in additional crews from places as far away as Merseyside to assist.

On Wednesday afternoon, incident commander Vicky Best said 11 appliances remained at the scene.

"It's a very difficult incident, the access is difficult, a lot of equipment's having to be carried to the scenes of the fire," she said.

"We've got a contractor that's been supplied by Natural England and he is going in with machinery to clear a path into the middle of the woods, which will allow us to more safely attack the fire from the centre."

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