Rewilding has been blamed for triggering the wildfire in Suffolk.

The 371-acre blaze began on the RSPB’s Minsmere site on Wednesday afternoon before spreading to the National Trust-owned Dunwich Heath.

The fire, which is just a few miles from Sizewell B nuclear power station and the construction site for the new Sizewell C, was stable on its fourth day.

Firefighters said they were able to reduce the number of appliances tackling the blaze from 14 to eight on Saturday morning, “following positive firefighting action… and the creation of further firebreaks”.

They later added: “The situation remains stable, although firefighting operations continue and crews are responding to hotspots where they emerge.”

But residents and experts said the area was a “tinderbox” because of the RSPB’s “rewilding agenda”.

Credit: Chris Gorman

The blaze started at around 5.30pm on Wednesday and has left the heathland in a state of “complete devastation”.

One resident of the nearby village of Westleton, who lives near the heathland, questioned the RSPB’s methods of land management and claimed its “green projects” had put the whole village at risk.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “People with their green agendas need to think about people who live in the countryside. Quite often when anything falls [off trees], they leave it lying around.

“Whenever they seem to do any work they are not very good at it. There is always so much debris left behind over the years. This whole area is an absolute tinderbox.”

He continued: “We have been lucky here. If the wind had been going in from the sea, Westleton would have had to be evacuated.

“They will say it’s not their fault, but they need to have a proper look.”

Credit: Ryan Lovejoy via Instagram/ Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service via Facebook

Fire travels quickly through heather and other shrubbery that makes up the majority of the heathland in Suffolk.

At RSPB Minsmere the shrubs had been allowed to overgrow after the charity introduced a deer management programme.

Campaign groups have warned a net zero crackdown on farming has raised the risk of wildfires engulfing the British countryside.

The resident claimed both the RSPB and the National Trust had “not been good custodians” of the land.

He claimed the residents were being overlooked in the name of green projects, adding: “You can have wildlife, yes, but you also have to manage the environment for the whole community.

“This is a big wake up call. They’re lucky there have been no fatalities. If this had happened in the night, God knows what would have happened.”

Henry Griffin, the county’s deputy chief fire officer, said the fire spread quickly through the heathland because many of the plants were oil-based.

He said: “[Fire] loves that oil-based pine or lavender. It’s oil-rich and burns incredibly quickly.”

Dr Thomas Smith, associate professor in environmental geography at the London School of Economics, said the recent “fire invasion” in the UK could be explained by the amount of “fuel” available to burn on the ground. 

He told The Telegraph: “There’s a naivety in some people’s ideas of rewilding that you leave the land alone, but in reality, it requires active management to go back to forested landscape.”

He said carbon storage and biodiversity policies could fuel fires if the land was not managed carefully, exacerbating the very issue they sought to tackle.

Dr Smith said: “If you want to encourage biodiversity and carbon storage of the landscape, the critical ingredient is stopping the fires from spreading, because otherwise it keeps resetting the clock back to zero.

“You’ve also got the risk of much more extreme fires happening because of the sheer amount of flammable vegetation – that means faster moving fires and fires with larger flames, which means they are more difficult to fight.”

On Friday, Russell Clement, the general manager for the National Trust on the Suffolk coast, said the fire had torn through the entire reserve, leaving it “unrecognisable”.

Henrietta Appleton, policy officer at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, said rewilding encouraged a “build up of fuel load” that might not be appropriately managed.

She added: “The trouble is, you end up with a continuous expanse of vegetation, often single-age and contiguous, and therefore the opportunities for the fire service to get in there are limited, unless there is a road or natural path they can use as a fire break.”

Alternative methods of preventing fires include animal grazing to reduce the amount of “fuel”, creating more frequent fire breaks, and controlled burning at certain times of the year.

Investigations are under way into the cause of the fire, although one pensioner who attempted to stamp it out said she saw no evidence of human involvement.

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said the RSPB should “follow the evidence”.

He added: “Refusing to manage upland vegetation because of political ideology or an obsession with rewilding is completely irresponsible.

“As the Countryside Alliance has pointed out repeatedly, organisations that manage land should listen to science and evidence, and put landscapes, nature and livelihoods first. The RSPB are playing with fire.”

‘Wildfires are indiscriminate’

The RSPB said this summer’s wildfires had been “unprecedented in scale, driven by drought and prolonged heat exacerbated by climate change”.

A spokesman said: “While we work hard to reduce risk, it is important to recognise that wildfires are indiscriminate; they can ignite and spread quickly across a range of landscapes – from heathlands, grasslands and peatlands, to farmland, woodlands and areas close to homes and communities – particularly in hot, dry and windy conditions.

“We carry out ongoing habitat management across our reserves to reduce fire risk, including cutting firebreaks, rewetting peatlands, restoring bogs and wetlands, and improving water retention across vulnerable areas.

“We also run public awareness campaigns urging people not to use disposable barbecues, light campfires, or leave litter that could spark a blaze.”

The National Trust said very low rainfall and widespread drought across England and Wales had created “extreme conditions” that have driven a surge in wildfires.

A spokesman said: “Our Suffolk colleagues are part of the local community and care deeply for Dunwich Heath and have long worked to reduce fire risk – maintaining fire breaks and regularly cutting heather.

“When the fire broke out, our team, neighbours, local agencies and the wider community rallied immediately, working alongside emergency services to cut additional breaks and help contain the blaze.

“Evidence shows healthier, wetter landscapes are more resilient to fire, which is why we prioritise nature restoration over routine burning.

“The wider issue is clear: climate change is accelerating, and we urgently need national leadership to help protect people, places and nature as we face a long recovery together.”