Hampshire's fire service left with £600,000 bill after New Forest wildfire by A31

A record-breaking wildfire in the New Forest left Hampshire and Isle of Wight fire service facing an estimated £600,000 bill.

The blaze alongside the A31 in August required around 5,500 hours of firefighter time, making it the largest incident in the service’s history.

Speaking at a meeting of Hampshire and Isle of Wight fire and rescue authority on October 8, chief financial officer Rob Sarfas said the final cost was still being calculated but was expected to be about £600,000.

He said: “We think the number is approximately £600,000 for that incident in terms of additional cost. Some of that has been included within the forecast. The overall cost is around £600,000 for that one incident.”

The wildfire came during an exceptionally busy summer for firefighters.

According to authority budget papers, Hampshire and Isle of Wight crews dealt with around 1,400 outdoor fires in July and August, including 75 classified as wildfires, a 52 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The report states the A31 incident occurred while 11 major wildfire incidents were being tackled elsewhere across the UK and followed another major fire at Headon Warren on the Isle of Wight.

Officials said the A31 blaze became the largest incident ever attended by the service. Authority papers warn that the full financial impact of the summer’s extreme fire activity has not yet been calculated.

The authority has asked the government to help cover some of the cost of responding to the wildfire.

Officials say they are exploring whether they can recover part of the money through an emergency funding scheme.

The service had been forecasting a £1.18 million underspend at the end of the first quarter of the financial year, before the cost of the summer response became clear.

The authority said a further update on the financial impact of the wildfire season would be provided later this year.