Wildfire burning one month on is 'the size of a small town'

Image source, Derby Mountain Rescue Team Image caption, Firefighters have been stationed on the Peak District moorland near Glossop for more than a month with no end in sight By Isaac Ashe East Midlands Published 2 minutes ago As darkness set in over the Peak District one Wednesday night in June, calls started to come in to Derbyshire's fire service over smoke starting to rise from the moorland overlooking the town. More than a month on, the Tintwistle Moor fire is now a sprawling, smouldering blaze the size of a small town, which can be seen from space. Declared a major incident on 13 July , it has come in tandem with a prolonged spell of hot, dry weather that shows little sign of easing soon, pushing the country's firefighting resources to their limits. Now Dr Kirsten Lees, environmental sciences lecturer, specialising in zero carbon at the University of Derby, has told the BBC Tintwistle is on a par with the biggest wildfires ever seen in England - and it's still burning. When questioned about her assertion the fire could be one of the largest in recent memory in England, she said: "It may well be, yes." Image source, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service Image caption, Dozens of firefighters are still fighting the fire more than one month on She added: "Honestly, it's upsetting and it's really scary. "In the most recent years, we had Saddleworth in 2018. We had Fylingdales up in the North York Moors last year. And this is comparable in scale to both of those. "My estimate is that it is about the size of a small town. As this is not out yet, we don't know how much bigger it's going to get." Analysis of data from the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) by BBC Verify estimates the fire, which first began on 24 June, has burned 606 hectares (1,630 acres) - equivalent to 900 football pitches. This is larger than the footprint of Hadfield, one of the nearest towns to the wildfire and home to about 6,700 people. Lees - who has been monitoring the wildfire using satellite imagery - added: "In Wales we tend to have some large ones. In terms of being the largest fire that we've seen in the Peak District, it probably would need to grow another 25% or so to overtake the Saddleworth fire, and obviously Fylingdales was bigger again." Image caption, Analysis of data from the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) by BBC Verify estimates total area burned by the fire at Tintwistle has reached 606 hectares A further wildfire at Dovestone Reservoir, north of the Tintwistle blaze, covers about 90 hectares (220 acres). Lees added: "At the moment the fire services have been doing a fantastic job keeping it under control as much as possible. We probably won't see this being completely out until we get some good rain." Clive Stanbrook, deputy chief fire officer for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, said on Thursday the operation was "complex and challenging", which the brigade and partner agencies were working to bring to a "safe conclusion as q