The Aftermath of the New Forest Wildfire.

In this episode, I recorded some footage from my gravel bike ride this week to scout the area affected by the New Forest Wildfire started by the vehicle fire on the A31 two weeks ago.

Thanks to the amazing work of the combined emergency services response the damage to the Forest is not worse than it could so easily have been.

The fire was started on Sunday 9th August by a vehicle fire on the A31 which quickly spread to the nearby verges and then into the forest. It took over a week for the fire to brought under full control and a further four or five days to continue with the damping down process to make sure no fires were reignited.

The A31 was finally opened again on Saturday 22nd August, the impact of closing a major arterial road for so long was massive on the whole area. I had never seen so many cars on the quieter rural roads of the forest. I avoided the area on my bike during the disruption, venturing only to the south of the forest. Thankfully the area has started to get back to normal again.

The footage from my ride showed the effect in the Forest on both sides of the carriageway. Amazingly, and thanks to the efforts of the emergency services the fire did not spread further north, the footage shows how the clear demarcation of the fire break along the gravel path.

It is also incredible that the damage on the south side of the A31 was not worse.

This video episode contains some comparison footage shot by Mike & Julie Wheeler https://www.youtube.com/@WheelersAtLarge from earlier in the year. Check out their channel for loads of great footage of riding around the New Forest and Dorset.

Watch this short episode on my YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/gPvSINtxTmQ

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