'My son used a tractor and plough to slow wildfire'

A farmer's quick-thinking son created a fire break using a plough to help prevent a raging inferno from spreading and ripping through his stubble field.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service deployed 14 crews to the wildfire on Putticks Lane, East Bergholt, at about 18:45 BST on Saturday.

On arrival they found about 80 hectares (200 acres) of cut straw, trees and hedgerow well alight before they got the blaze under control.

Farmer Rupert Eley, from The East Bergholt Estate Company, told the BBC the actions of his 29-year-old son, Cuthbert, stalled the spread of the blaze as firefighters tackled it.

"It was fairly effective and it gave the firefighters time to move around hither and thither," said the 65-year-old.

"If we had a big plough and tractor, it would've been more effective. The problem is the ground is very hard at the minute and our small ploughs don't very easily get into it.

"But the answer is ploughing a fire break is a very, very good way of just stopping the fire in its tracks."

Eley and his wife became aware of the fire in their field when they returned from visiting their neighbours to hear the phone "ringing frantically".

According to the farmer, the fire is understood to have started on a public footpath before a "brisk wind" blew it in the direction of some hedges.

"Thankfully, we were harvested so there weren't standing crops, but we've got some very big hedges on the farm. We love our hedges very much," added Eley.

"It was dry and very hot and the trouble is the fire got into those hedges and did quite a lot of damage... it heated it up and stoked it up – it was moving at quite a pace.

"It got to within 80 yards of two houses, and that was quite nerve-wracking."

The blaze, which crews had under control by 21:30, highlighted the dangers posed by fires started by "careless activities" during extremely hot weather.

These include not responsibly disposing of cigarettes, parking on dry grass with a hot exhaust, using disposable barbecues and lighting bonfires.

"I don't think people are generally out lighting fires deliberately – I'd like to think they're not," said Eley.

"But it's very, very easy to light these things [and] it's not always very easy to put them out.

"And people like seeing birds nesting in hedges and seeing the environmental benefits of hedges, so it's better not to set them on fire, ideally."

The fire service said that a "few simple precautions can make a huge difference" in protecting the countryside, communities and wildlife from wildfires.

"A huge thank you to our firefighters for their great work in containing this challenging fire from spreading further," a spokesperson said.

"However, everyone can do their bit to assist in preventing wildfires such as this."

Rupert Eley spoke to the BBC ahead of BBC's Farmwatch, a day of special programming exploring the people, places and challenges shaping modern farming.

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