Swinley Forest Fire
Discussion
Any news on the fire in Swinley Forest? The roads are still closed this morning, looks like it is very bad news. It's been burning since 1pm Monday.
Looks like a hell of a lot of trees have gone up.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-132...
Looks like a hell of a lot of trees have gone up.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-132...
http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/news/s/2091913_schoo...
Didn't know anything about it until you posted up this morning!
Didn't know anything about it until you posted up this morning!
I live in Binfield (4 miles as the crow flies) and we could see the smoke thick and high from our back garden, towards the evening we could also smell it. A couple of the MTB forums seem to indicate that it is only the NE corner that has been burnt and the whole 9 yrds, stickler, labyrinth etc are OK. I might try to head over this evening to see if I can get a ride in (as long as it has re-opened), if I do get out I will post up tonight and let you know how it looks. . . .
I back onto swinley forest and can safely say that it's still burning and the roads are still shut. The forest has also been sealed off as the winds are making the fires (there's 4 seperate ones) very unpredictable in their movements.
If you make it past the police tape into the forest, the fire/police will pick you up and take out out of the "sealed zone". No public are allowed into the area where there are road and forest closures unless you are residents (we've got to sit in our houses with the windows shut and hope the wind doesn't change direction!!
).
Aerial shots are here on the BBC with some pics too:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-132...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13270403
If you make it past the police tape into the forest, the fire/police will pick you up and take out out of the "sealed zone". No public are allowed into the area where there are road and forest closures unless you are residents (we've got to sit in our houses with the windows shut and hope the wind doesn't change direction!!
).Aerial shots are here on the BBC with some pics too:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-132...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13270403
Change of plan - be going for a road ride this evening!
To give some scale to the size of the smoke cloud I nipped to the hill just outside Binfield (4 miles North of Swinley) and took this photo. To give some context to the size of the smoke cloud, the building in the middle of the photo is the Fujitsu building on the Western Industrial - I believe it is somewhere between 14 and 18 stories high. I have also just been told that the fire has re-ignited and more road closures have been enforced.
To give some scale to the size of the smoke cloud I nipped to the hill just outside Binfield (4 miles North of Swinley) and took this photo. To give some context to the size of the smoke cloud, the building in the middle of the photo is the Fujitsu building on the Western Industrial - I believe it is somewhere between 14 and 18 stories high. I have also just been told that the fire has re-ignited and more road closures have been enforced.
I went for a road ride this evening and went home via the A322 and stopped at the entrance to 'the Highway'. The fire road from the A322 to Surrey Hill looked completely fine, no sign of fire damage so I guess most of the damage has been limited to the Crowthorne side of Swinley - not great news but at least it looks as if the Labyrinth, Stickler, whole 9 yards etc should be OK.
Fire update!!
I made it out tonight and managed a quick 13 miles before the light started to fade. On the whole the majority of Swinley is fine, the only area affected seems to be from the bomb drops and corkscrew to Nine Mile Ride and Foresters Road - in fact the bomb drops are still smoldering! The new-ish tracks South of the Corkscrew have all gone, and the narrow fire track that used to head towards the tunnel area is now about 40 foot wide!
Some of the narrow technical single track towards the place where the Gorrick races start has been torn through by a logging monster - I came a cropper by speeding down the track only to be presented with a huge felled tree that had been cut down as part of a fire break.
The Seagul run, stickler, whole nine yards, watsons wander, tank traps, deer stalker, labyrinth, gully jumps etc are all totally fine and the fire has not been anywhere near that area of Swinley.
I stopped for a chat with the fire brigade who have two enormous pumps at Lower Star Point. They were fine with me riding as long as I didn’t go near the forest towards Foresters Way. They think it will still be several days before the fire is out, and said we would need torrential rain for about 3 days solid to put the fire out! It does not sound very promising.
On the way out I was stopped by a couple of wardens who very reasonably told me I should not have been riding - regardless of what the fire brigade said! Apparently the right of way through the forest has been revoked for all users as of today, and the forest is being patrolled throughout the day by police on horses and bikes.
In short they have asked everyone to stay out of Swinley Forest until at least Monday. They will be putting signs up overnight and the forest will be patrolled by mounted Police all weekend, anyone found on site will be ‘ejected’!
Was really nice to have the place to myself though!! :-)
I made it out tonight and managed a quick 13 miles before the light started to fade. On the whole the majority of Swinley is fine, the only area affected seems to be from the bomb drops and corkscrew to Nine Mile Ride and Foresters Road - in fact the bomb drops are still smoldering! The new-ish tracks South of the Corkscrew have all gone, and the narrow fire track that used to head towards the tunnel area is now about 40 foot wide!
Some of the narrow technical single track towards the place where the Gorrick races start has been torn through by a logging monster - I came a cropper by speeding down the track only to be presented with a huge felled tree that had been cut down as part of a fire break.
The Seagul run, stickler, whole nine yards, watsons wander, tank traps, deer stalker, labyrinth, gully jumps etc are all totally fine and the fire has not been anywhere near that area of Swinley.
I stopped for a chat with the fire brigade who have two enormous pumps at Lower Star Point. They were fine with me riding as long as I didn’t go near the forest towards Foresters Way. They think it will still be several days before the fire is out, and said we would need torrential rain for about 3 days solid to put the fire out! It does not sound very promising.
On the way out I was stopped by a couple of wardens who very reasonably told me I should not have been riding - regardless of what the fire brigade said! Apparently the right of way through the forest has been revoked for all users as of today, and the forest is being patrolled throughout the day by police on horses and bikes.
In short they have asked everyone to stay out of Swinley Forest until at least Monday. They will be putting signs up overnight and the forest will be patrolled by mounted Police all weekend, anyone found on site will be ‘ejected’!
Was really nice to have the place to myself though!! :-)
OilyRagMan said:
poped over for a ride today, a few signs still around saying it was closed but didnt see any rangers or police in the woods, there were quite a few riders out and about 
Were you supposed to be out with at Swinley Mr Collins a week ago? I turned up in the car park but no sign of Ian. . . . MadDad said:
OilyRagMan said:
poped over for a ride today, a few signs still around saying it was closed but didnt see any rangers or police in the woods, there were quite a few riders out and about
Were you supposed to be out with at Swinley Mr Collins a week ago? I turned up in the car park but no sign of Ian. . . . Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff