Remains of the Chobham Common fire on Good Friday (14th April) are still evident, two weeks after the blaze died down. Firefighters had tackled the fire for over five hours after the high temperatures in April had dried out the long grass and shrubs, sustaining the flames.


The wildfire (which has been labelled by a spokesperson from Surrey Police as “not deemed suspicious”) was tackled by around 39 firefighters, including nine specialist units. One Camberley firefighter commented, “we had to get everyone in the county there”, this included fire crews from Woking, Leatherhead and Guildford. They were alerted at 7:44pm and it took over five hours for the crew to control the fire, with it fading by 1am the next day (15th April). Two fire engines, six land rovers and two water carriers were deployed. The major blaze took place on the Longcross side of the Common, with eight hectares of land destroyed.

Chobham Common is the largest national nature reserve in the South East, with more than 300 species of wild flower and 100 different species of birds living there. Grass snakes, toads and frogs are among other animals found in the heathland. The Common is renowned as both a visitor destination and a filming location, having been used for films such as Superman II and television shows such as Dad’s Army.

The 1,400-acre Chobham Common had regular fires during the 1960s and 1970s but since 1990, rangers and volunteers have fire watched during periods of high risk to reduce the frequency and scale of fires on the site. The fire was the most recent in a sequence of wildfires across Surrey and Hampshire during the week of the 10th April.

George Lanigan – St George’s College, Weybridge