Bodmin Moor fires: Crews tackle four blazes over two miles Published duration 18 April 2019

media caption Footage from Lostwithiel fire crews show the intensity of the flames

Firefighters have tackled a series of large gorse fires across two miles of Bodmin Moor.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service began to receive calls shortly before midnight about fires breaking out around Temple and Bolventor.

Fire officials said they suspected the fires were started deliberately, and said crews had a "challenging night".

At 07:30 BST they said the fires had been put out, but crews were still monitoring the scene.

image copyright Wadebride Fire Station image caption Drivers on the A30 were warned to take care amid smoke billowing from the fires

image copyright Wadebridge Fire Station image caption About 80 firefighters tackled difficult conditions to control the fires

image caption The fire spread across miles of moorland before it was brought under control

Stuart Whitworth, of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, said the fire had started on both sides of the A30 and "that would indicate that this was probably a deliberately-set fire".

"Crews have worked very hard to extinguish all the fire fronts," he said.

"It really is a very difficult operation putting out wildfires overnight in treacherous conditions, with bogs and marshes."

About 80 firefighters tackled the blazes at their height, but crews later left the scene.

Olivia Tomlin tweeted that the "huge gorse fire" in three sections was close to houses and livestock and a main road, the A30.