From Wikipedia: In a heatwave in 2006, an out-of-control wildfire burned 60% of the common, but by 2010 the heath was regenerating, with heather and gorse spreading across the charred ground. Forty-five pairs of Dartford warblers were recorded before the event, and six pairs in 2010.
See Jill Fry's timeline and annotations to the second batch of photographs.
Map overlay by Sean Edwards
Reporting by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/5180828.stm
A vast amount of equipment and manpower was used to bring the fire under control:
Jill Fry's account
In April 2024, Thursley History Society was given a vast amount of records, photographs and CDs by Julia Connell who had sorted them from her mother and father's archives. Her parents, Ray and Jill Fry were great lovers of Thursley Common where Ray was the warden for X years. This comprehensive record of the devastating 2006 fire, with photographs from Jill, Tim Walsh, Sean Edwards, Steve Webster and Hugh Turrell-Clarke, along with a timeline, was taken from one of Jill's CDs
Read Jill Fry's timeline of the fire from inception to regrowth - the numbers match the sequence of the photographs above:
This letter of appreciation from Brian Moore, Deputy Chief Constable of Surrey Police speaks to the wonderful communioty spirit that we have in Thursley
