A seven hectare gorse fire on Carn Brea which firefighters spent around 10 hours putting out has caused "long term damage" to the area's natural habitat.

Swathes of gorse, heather and bilberry were destroyed as the blaze spread across the northern side of the carn on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning last week, when more than 200 calls were received by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service’s Control Room and four fire engines and a water carrier from Camborne, Pool and Redruth, Hayle and Helston fire stations were sent to fight the flames.

Jon James, Cornwall Council’s environment manager, said: “In terms of damage to wildlife, this is about the worst time of year for this fire to happen."

“Nesting birds, small mammals, reptiles and insects are all very active in the spring and early summer and will have all been directly harmed by the fire as it spread so quickly through the dry vegetation.

"There is also long term damage to the habitat - with the ground being relatively dry at this time of year the fire has burned quite deeply in places and the ground will take many years to recover.”

The fire was started by a disposable barbecue, and the fire service and Cornwall Council have repeated pleas for people to take care when disposing of these properly to prevent similar incidents happening in the future.

Station manager Nathaniel Hooton from Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It is thanks to the swift actions of fire control in mobilising appliances and the hard work and professionalism of the responding crews that the fire did not spread further and this incident was brought to a safe conclusion.

“This incident highlights the importance of taking great care when using disposable barbecues – as we have seen, fire can quickly spread with devastating results. Please take care and follow our safety advice.”

The fire service has reminded people using a disposable barbecue to never place it on a flammable surface, as foil base becomes very hot, to leave the it to cool before attempting to move it, even if this may take several hours, to fully extinguish the barbecue by pouring plenty of water or sand onto it, making sure the coals are fully covered, and not to place it in a rubbish bin until it has cooled down properly.