Firefighters still battling 'challenging' Cambridgeshire blaze after 11 days

Aerial images show the scale of a battle firefighters are facing in Cambridgeshire, where a peatland fire is still burning after 11 days.

The blaze at Holme Fen, near Peterborough, involves an area measuring around 60 football pitches, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said last week.

The fire is deep-seated in peat, which forms over thousands of years from the partial decomposition of organic matter, mainly plant material, in wetlands.

Peat fires can spread underground and are "notoriously difficult to extinguish", the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire said on its website for The Great Fen.

It describes Holme Fen as a "thriving nature reserve" which includes Holme Post, the lowest land point in Great Britain at 2.75 metres below sea level.

The Holme Fen blaze started on 8 August, and the fire service said crews are expected to remain at the scene "for the foreseeable future" while also maintaining cover for other emergencies.

Incident commander Wayne Swales said in an earlier update that vegetation had been on fire as well as peat burning below the ground.

He said crews were dealing with "fires above ground, fires below ground" and described the fire as "challenging".

Firefighters have been checking for hotspots and dampening down the area.

People who are still seeing or smelling smoke in the area are being advised that it is "likely still coming from Holme Fen".

(c) Sky News 2026: Firefighters still battling 'challenging' Cambridgeshire blaze after 11 days