00:00Kristen Hawthorne joins us live now from the scene.
00:03Kristen, what are the details of what happened?
00:07So it's been reported that three fire engines were sent to the scene
00:11just before 7.40pm last night on Sunday.
00:15Kemp Fire and Rescue say no injuries have been reported
00:18and the cause is so far not yet known.
00:20Kemp Police, however, say that they recalled two separate reports
00:24of bins being satellite in Cliffsend, Ramsgate,
00:27including Chapman's Field and Pegwell Bay,
00:30Nature Reserve at around 8.30pm on Sunday the 19th of April,
00:34so last night as well.
00:35The fires were extinguished each time by Kemp Fire and Rescue Service
00:38with no reported injuries.
00:40However, officers attended the scene
00:41and an arson investigation is ongoing.
00:44I spoke to some residents who saw the beginning of the fire
00:47and a little bit about what happened.
00:49They say that it began to my right here
00:52and then for about an hour it burned to just behind me.
00:56So this is what they said about what they saw.
00:59So I was just at my auntie's house, literally just up the road
01:02and we were just having dinner, just normal casual Sunday evening
01:07and then my cousin goes into the front living room,
01:10comes back in and says that it's on fire, the marsh is on fire.
01:14So we all got up, went to have a look,
01:18saw that the whole thing was pretty much engulfed in flames
01:22and then my uncle called the fire brigade
01:24but obviously most people have already done that as we found out.
01:27There are a lot of unusual bird species down here
01:30that would see this reed bed as a habitat
01:34so it's a shame that a big chunk of that has gone there.
01:40So environmentalist Nick Mitchell who's lived in Pegwell Bay his whole life
01:44was here at around 8.20pm last night
01:47and took some pictures and videos.
01:49I interviewed him as well to find out what he saw.
01:52This reed bed will recover really fast.
01:54The soil in there is very fertile as you can imagine.
01:57It's been decomposing matter being recycled all the time
02:00but if people are walking through it
02:03that desire line of footfall will slow down that regrowth of the reed bed.
02:09So the area of Pegwell Bay is a site of special scientific interest
02:13due to its marshland and the amount of migratory birds
02:16that come over here from all across the world, the East Atlantic.
02:20I spoke to Emma Waller from Kent Wildlife Trust
02:23who told me the impact that this burnt area could have
02:26on those animals and on the wildlife in general.
02:28And it's because of this beautiful habitat
02:31the salt marsh which is an irreplaceable habitat
02:35and the reason why it's irreplaceable
02:37is because the botanical species that grow on salt marsh
02:40can only grow on salt marsh.
02:43So once that's damaged and gone
02:44there's nowhere else for these species to grow.
02:48So there is that real risk that we have lost
02:50a whole kind of year's worth of local population.
02:54So there is that real significant impact
02:56that even if the reeds do grow
02:59they're not going to recover in time for this breeding season.
03:04The pictures there really are shocking.
03:06Kristen, what is the atmosphere like there at the moment?
03:11Well instantly as I arrived here today Chloe
03:14I could smell the aftermath of the fire
03:16so much so that it actually led me to where it happened.
03:19People in the area were stopping to take pictures and videos
03:23and I did speak to some of them
03:25but it's not yet known the long-term impact that this will have
03:28and it's more of a wait and see to find out what happens.
03:31So I mean it could be, it could return to its former,
03:35the way it was or it could be permanently scarred.
03:41Unusual bird species down here that
03:45you'd see this reed bed as a habitat
03:47so it's a shame that a big chunk of that has gone there.
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