Fire near Testwood Lane leaves Totton residents fearing for their lives

Huges flames engulfed fields and woods off Testwood Lane on Saturday afternoon. 

Around 35 firefighters were scrambled to tackle multiple blazes which are believed to have been started deliberately.

A five-hectare area of land between Calmore Industrial Estate and Testwood School has been left charred and now looks like a wasteland. 

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service was flooded with more than 25 emergency calls having been first alerted to the inferno at around 3.45pm. 

Totton residents living in Hawkers Close have been left shocked and frightened by the incident that came close to their homes.

Chris Smith, who lives about 100 metres from one of the fires described the terrifying moment he thought his house would be swept up by the flames.

Chris Smith, 47, from Hawkers Close

The 47-year-old said: “One of the neighbours at the back just shouted fire, and when I looked out it was horrendous, it was only one hundred metres from the house so everyone started moving their cars.

“In the moment all I felt was just panic because it's uncontrollable and the wind kept changing directions which didn’t help.”

“It just crosses your mind that, that’s it your house is gone, and it was just me and the dog because my wife was out, and I couldn’t get hold of her.

“So, I didn’t really know what to do because I needed to move two cars and get the dog out of here”

Sarah Baulton outside her home

Sarah Baulton began to pack her things "in case she was forced to evacuate".

She said: “We just started to get things together, getting the cats and putting them in the carriers, loading up the car with essentials just in case we needed to get out.

“I kept on going down the road to keep an eye on it, you see the smoke behind the trees and towards the industrial estate and then it went on the trees that’s when you started seeing the flames going up.  That’s when it really got frightening.”

“At that point, we didn’t have any of the fire engines dealing with it because they were all down the other end and that’s when it started advancing quite rapidly and we thought we would have to evacuate.”

Read More: What we know so far after fire rips through nature reserve

Martine Effeny, 55 said: “It’s devastating you think of all the wildlife, we walk our dog there and we think this is lovely and then something like this happens.”

Residents praised the heroic work and speed at which the fire services tackled the fire.

No one was injured, however, police have now launched an investigation and are appealing for information.

They say that around five fires were set in the Testwood Lake area on Saturday afternoon.

Officers have since been carrying out door-to-door enquiries.

Anyone with information is urged to call 101 quoting incident number 1797 of Saturday’s date.

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