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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Steven Morris

‘The fledglings couldn’t escape’: Dartmoor blaze raises questions about wildfire strategy

Tracy May standing by her vehicle
Farmer Tracy May said the wildfire was so fierce because of the amount of combustible material on the moor. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

The spot where the wildfire broke out could hardly have been worse. Cut Hill is one of the remotest and highest peaks on Dartmoor, miles from any road, a place of tussocky, ankle-turning terrain.

And the weeks of hot weather meant the molinia, the moorland grass, was as tinder dry as farmers can remember it at this time of year. Once it took hold, on Sunday, the fire raged.

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