Emergency services dealt with a large cliff top fire at Ballard Down near Swanage last night.

Fire service crews attended after multiple calls from the public to reports of a fire in the open on Tuesday evening.

Bournemouth Echo:

Picture by Antonio Manuel

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said they received the first call at 8.39pm.

Police were called shortly after 9pm and were on the scene with fire, coastguard and ambulance crews as a precaution.

Two fire crews from Swanage attended along with one from Wareham and the technical rescue team from Poole.

One crew from Swanage will visit the site this morning.  

The fire involved an area of approximately 500 square metres.

Footage from the RNLI

Both Swanage lifeboats also assisted and were requested to search for a possible person on cliffs, provide safety cover and report the state of the fire to fire command.

Bournemouth Echo:

Picture by RNLI/Dave Turnbull

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Control tweeted: "Due to the location of the fire, special safe working at height rescue teams have been used to extinguish the fire using one main line and hose reel jets. A watching brief is now being maintained."

The stop message came in at 12.30am.

Posting in their blog, Swanage Coastguard said: “Despite rumours on social media that this was caused by a flare this has currently been discounted and the cause is still being investigated.”