Blaze rips through Chasewater
Five acres of heathland were damaged in a blaze at a popular West Midlands beauty spot.
The fire at Chasewater Country Park broke out at about 1.30pm yesterday, just off Pool Road in Burntwood and to the north of the M6 Toll road.
Fire service officials said the cause of the fire is impossible to pinpoint. It could have been deliberate or accidental, perhaps started by a discarded cigarette.
Firefighters took water from the Wyrley and Essington Canal to tackle the blaze as smoke drifted towards the motorway. The area damaged by fire had been earmarked to graze cattle on, and it is hoped that will still happen later this summer.
Richard King, strategic director of democratic, development and legal services at Lichfield District Council, said: "One of our Countryside Officers visited Chasewater yesterday to assess the damage.
"She concluded that although the damage is considerable, it won't take long for the land to regenerate, and it should be in a good condition for the introduction of the grazing cattle this summer."
Graham Evans, secretary of the Chasewater Wildlife Group, was at the Park when the fire broke out.
"I wasn't sure if it was a controlled heathland fire at first, but then another chap phoned the fire brigade," he said. "It is a site of Special Scientific Interest, and some of the sundew has been burned."
