Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood has been partially destroyed by fire.
The Ashdown Forest in Kingstanding, England caught fire on Sunday evening with six hectares of the area being directly affected by the blaze.
Firefighters from East Sussex Fire and Rescue attended the scene at approximately 9.30pm last night. They tackled the blaze through the night and were still working to save the wood this morning.
Ashdown Forest was the inspiration for the famous Hundred Acre Wood, the setting of the Winnie the Pooh stories.
Crews working hard in arduous conditions. Crews from @EastSussexFRS @WestSussexFire and @sussex_police including the drone and superbly supported by @Sussex_Fire_999 pic.twitter.com/f7ZXtA0rXk
— Hannah Scott-Youldon (@HSYouldon) April 28, 2019
Author A A Milne lived near the forest and often took his son, Christopher Robin, walking there.
Six fire engines, four Land Rovers, a water carrier and a control unit were called out to the wood last night.
This morning, the operation had reduced to two fire engines and two Land Rovers. Authorities remained at the scene until 10am.
Re-inspection of the site will be carried out later today. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Incident commander Andrew Gausden said:
“We do not know the cause of the fire yet. We are working closely with Sussex Police and the Ashdown Forest Rangers to investigate the cause.
“We are not looking at it being a deliberate fire at this time. Investigations will take place over the next few days. “
