North Yorkshire, England — The already-risky work of fire crews battling a wildfire in England's North York Moors National Park has been made all the more dangerous by World War II-era bombs and tank shells hidden under the dense, dry vegetation. A local fire official said Wednesday that there had been nearly 20 explosions as the fire burns through brush to detonate the hidden weapons.
"As the peat continues to burn down, it is finding the World War II ordnance and therefore exploding, and we have now experienced over 18 ordnance explosions within key areas," County Chief Fire Officer Jonathan Dyson said, according to CBS News' partner network BBC News.
The Langdale Moor fire, which started on August 11, has charred about 10 square miles in the picturesque coastal region of North Yorkshire. Emergency fire crews have been tackling the blaze, aided by local farmers and game keepers who've swung into action with water tanks and tractors, dousing brush and helping cut fire breaks through the moorland, which is covered largely by dense shrubs and grass.
Dyson said part of the active fire area was a tank training ground during the 1940s, explaining why so many weapons were still lurking under the first layers of the rugged landscape. There is still a U.K. military site, the RAF Fylingdales radar station, in the immediate area.
Britain's Ministry of Defense in London said an explosive ordnance disposal team had found "various World War II-era unexploded ordnance items," declaring them to be "inert practice projectiles."
Dyson said the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service had requested help from other agencies in the country, and that crews had adopted a "very defensive fire-fighting strategy" to protect members given the presence of unexploded bombs.
The scale of the wildfire has been atypical for northern England — a region often associated with heavy rainfall even within the U.K. But this year saw an incredibly hot, dry spring and early summer, leaving the moors (a British word for uncultivated hills) tinder dry. The U.K. is on track to see 2025 go down as the hottest year ever recorded.
The North York Moors park covers more than 550 square miles of rolling hills abutting the Yorkshire coast. It is dotted with villages and seaside towns that are popular summer vacation destinations, including the ancient fishing town of Whitby, considered the inspiration for Victorian-era author Bram Stoker's iconic tale of "Dracula."
Along with many smaller towns, Whitby has been hit by road closures due to the fire that have kept some tourists at bay. Several campsites and other businesses in the region have been forced to evacuate and close up.
The moors are also used as grazing land for flocks of sheep, and seeing so much ground burn away — after weeks with little rain to grow fresh grass had already squeezed many farmers ahead of the winter months — has been distressing for local farmers.
"It's people's livelihoods," farm worker Darren Coates told the BBC. "To see the moors and farmland burned to a crisp it is just devastating."
Area farms and stables not impacted by the fire have posted messages on social media for weeks, offering to temporarily shelter horses and other animals displaced by the blaze.
Wednesday finally brought some desperately needed rain to the region, helping the fire crews and farmers gain some degree of control over the blaze, but the fire service warned residents on Thursday that many road and trail closures remained in place, and the fire was still active.
"They are working hard on containing the fire by firefighting, hotspotting and adding fire breaks," the service said. "A helicopter is again in use today. We continue to ask people to avoid the area and not travel there to take photos and drone footage. This is an on-going operational incident and we want to make sure our crews, partners and the public stay safe."
It said the cause of the fire had not been established.
There have been no reports of injuries or serious structural damage from the wildfire – or from old World War II bombs blowing up underneath it.
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