Fire at peat nature reserve 'could burn for days'
John Devine/BBCCrews are expected to remain at the scene of a fire on a Fenland nature reserve for several days, according to the fire service.
More than 40 firefighters were sent to tackle flames in the woods at Holme Fen, south of Peterborough, just before 15:30 BST on Monday.
The fire is "deep-seated in peat", which makes it harder to tackle, according to Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service's incident commander, Nev Burgess.
"My previous experience is that these do tend to last for days as opposed to hours because of the type of fire that they are and the access we need, so I anticipate that there will be a fire service presence at the nature reserve at least until Friday," he told the BBC.
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Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service"The fire itself is incredibly deep seated in the nature reserve, tricky to access and extremely hard work for our firefighters," Burgess said.
It was "incredibly difficult" to know the exact location of peat fires "because it burns under the surface and it burns quite fiercely", he added.
He estimated the blaze was at least 1m (3.3ft) below the surface.
The senior firefighter said there were currently no plans to close the nature reserve to the public, but he asked visitors to stay away from the area immediately around the fire.
He said the fire service and police were "still actively investigating the cause".
Cambridgeshire Police confirmed it was investigating the fire as a suspected arson attack and urged anyone with information to contact the force.
The site is managed by Natural England and is home to a variety of wildlife species, including 500 types of fungi, enabling the reserve to be declared a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
Natural England said it was supporting the fire service.
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