Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood DEVASTATED in East Sussex forest fire
WINNIE the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood has been destroyed in a fire that swept through six acres of the setting of the famous children’s stories on Sunday night.
Ashdown Forest: HUGE fire burns through Sussex woodland
Ashdown Forest was the inspiration for AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood. Firefighters were called to the forest near Kingstanding, 19 miles north-east of Brighton in East Sussex, at about 9.30pm on Sunday. The fire was brought under control at roughly 4am on Monday.
Crews battled the blaze overnight, in the morning the scene was a tragic landscape of smouldering ash.
On Monday night an East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "Six fire engines, four Land Rovers, a water carrier and the control unit are in attendance and our teams are tackling the fire using beaters."
Andrew Gausden, commander of the fire station, said: "It's unusual to have a fire of this size at night.
"This seems to have caught hold before people noticed the fire.
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“The undergrowth was very dry in the forest, despite the recent rain, and the fire caught quite quickly."
The cause is not yet known and firefighters have not yet ruled out arson.
There have been many wildfires reported this year in this region of southern England.
It has been suggested that people lighting disposable barbecues in the forest or tossing cigarette ends into the undergrowth sparked it.
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Nature lovers fear the inferno has destroyed many birds' nests containing eggs and chicks and has killed rare butterflies and other wildlife.
Pictures shared on social media show towering flames tearing across the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne, who lived in nearby Cotchford Farm, Hartfield, drew inspiration from the forest to write the popular series of children's books in the 1920s.
In the stories the woodland became the fictional Hundred Acre Wood, home to Winnie the Pooh and his friends Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, and others.