A blaze in a wheat field in Rayleigh could have spread to Hockley woods had there been more of a breeze last night, firefighters have revealed.
The fire, at Stevens Farm, in Bull Lane, was the second blaze in two days and has left a large proportion of the field burnt out.
Fire crews suspect youths are to blame.
A spokesman for Hadleigh fire station, who attended the fire with Rayleigh fire crews, said: "There's not a chance, unless there are some very, very careless smokers out there, that these fires were not started deliberately.
Firefighters arrived at the scene at 6.30pm last night, and the fire took over a hour to bring completely under control.
Published Friday August 6, 2004
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