FIREFIGHTERS had a busy end to the weekend after they responded to reports of multiple fires on heathland in the Studland area.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue said it received a “high number of calls relating to fires in the open across the Studland area” from Saturday night (August 2) to Sunday morning (August 3).

Crews were initially called to a fire at Decoy Heath at around 11pm on the Saturday, before responding to a fire in the open at Middlebere Heath, which saw 35 firefighters arrive to tackle the blaze.

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The service battled the Middlebere Heath fire until 2am, and the Decoy Heath fire was put out in just over an hour.

Just a few hours later, at around 3.30am, crews were then called out to another fire at Newton Heath near Corfe Castle which saw 70m by 50m of heathland affected by the blaze.

36 stations in total attended the Newton Heath fire, with 55 crew members battling it until the early hours of this morning (August 4).

Just before 8am on Sunday (August 3), another fire was located in the open in Gore Heath, which was extinguished just after 9am.

Campfires and barbeques have been banned at protected heathlands in the county, and the cause of the fires has not yet been identified.

Anyone who sees a fire in an area not previously mentioned should call 999.