Wildfire Near Sizewell B Nuclear Plant Grows to 150 Hectares as England Battles Drought

A wildfire tearing through Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast has grown to about 150 hectares, roughly 210 football pitches, as of Thursday afternoon, according to Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service. The blaze sits about three miles from Sizewell B, one of Britain's few operating nuclear power stations, which only came back online this month after a two-month refueling shutdown.

Firefighters were called shortly after 5.30pm Wednesday to what station manager Dan Davis described as a "large-scale, wind-driven forestry fire." It was upgraded to a major incident. By Thursday, 18 fire engines and more than 100 firefighters, according to The National, or approximately 90, according to The Guardian and The Independent, were battling flames that incident commander Christopher May said would take crews 24 to 48 hours to control given the size and complexity of the fire.

No current risk to the reactor, officials say

EDF, the French state-owned utility that operates Sizewell B, says the plant is not on high alert and operations have not been affected. "The fire at Dunwich Heath is not currently affecting operations at Sizewell B power station but we are continuing to monitor the situation. We are not on high alert," the company said, according to Breitbart.

The Guardian reported that EDF's media office specifically pushed back on media reports describing the plant as on "high alert," calling that characterization inaccurate. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said earlier Thursday: "At this time there is no current risk to Sizewell B, due to the distance from the fire and the direction it is travelling (easterly). However, this is a live and dynamic situation."

Wind direction is doing the protective work right now, not distance alone. Weather forecasters cited by The Daily Telegraph, per Breitbart's reporting, warned wind direction was likely to shift Thursday evening and pick up speed, raising the chance smoke could drift toward the Sizewell site rather than out to sea.

What a shutdown would actually look like

A nuclear energy expert who spoke to The Times, cited by Breitbart, made an important distinction: if smoke did get ingested into the plant's air filtration system and clogged filters, that would threaten cooling for ancillary systems, not the reactor core directly. Any shutdown of energy generation, the expert said, would most likely be triggered by staff having to evacuate because of choking smoke, not because reactor safety systems failed.

Breitbart also noted a geographic buffer: the remains of the River Minsmere run between the Dunwich Heath fire and the Sizewell plants, which the outlet said makes it highly unlikely the fire itself could physically reach the site. Sizewell B also has an existing emergency plan covering a range of scenarios, including an on-site fire, according to The Guardian.

Evacuations and drought conditions

Cliff House Holiday Park, home to roughly 200 caravans, was evacuated as a precaution. Suffolk County Council and fire officials said around 46 to 50 people were being supported at a rest center set up at Westleton Village Hall, with reporting from The Independent and The National giving slightly different headcounts as the situation evolved through the day.

Chief fire officer Jon Lacey told reporters he could not predict when evacuated residents would be allowed home. "We won't advise people to go back to their properties until it's absolutely safe to do so," Lacey said, according to The Independent. "But we will do that as quickly as we possibly can."

The fire broke out a day after half of England, including East Anglia, was officially declared in drought, according to The Guardian. Natural Resources Wales separately declared a drought across all of Wales on Thursday, with the country on pace for its driest July since records began nearly 200 years ago. Forecasters warned wildfires in southern England could turn "exceptionally severe."

The blaze has also spread into the RSPB Minsmere nature reserve, a protected Site of Special Scientific Interest, which has been closed to visitors, according to The Guardian.

Government response

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, speaking during a visit to Cumbria, called it "a very serious incident" and pledged Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service would get "all of the support, the mutual aid, the other services that they need." Freddie Gulliver of the Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit told residents gathered at Westleton Village Hall that additional fire engines were being brought in from London, along with wildfire specialist appliances and tactical advisers.

Suffolk's fire chief said Thursday it is too early to determine the cause of the fire, while urging the public to avoid disposable barbecues given the dry conditions.

The key question: will the wind actually turn as forecasters expect, and if it does, will Sizewell B's filtration and staffing plans hold up under sustained smoke exposure over the 24 to 48 hours fire commanders say they need to bring the blaze under control. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service says the response will likely continue for at least that long, with only a chance of overnight rain and several more dry days forecast after that.