Quick thinking cyclist managed to help stop a fire from spreading in Brandon Forest earlier today.

East Anglian Daily Times: Firefighters tackle the blaze in Brandon Forest. Picture: SUFFOLK FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICEFirefighters tackle the blaze in Brandon Forest. Picture: SUFFOLK FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE (Image: Archant)

They were on a bike ride when they spotted the blaze and quickly dialed 999.

And they waited by the side of the A1065, close to the RAF Lakenheath air base, to direct the fire crews to the seat of the flames deep in the forest.

Six fire engines, plus the water bower from Newmarket, attended the incident which broke out at 5.06pm and crew commander Rob Cutche, who is based at Brandon, praised the cyclist for their action.

He said: “They waited at the bottom of the track close to the main road and helped us to find the fire. We could see lots of smoke but we did not know where it was coming from and they certainly helped us to stop it from spreading and being a lot worse than it was.

East Anglian Daily Times: Firefighters tackling the blaze in Brandon Forest. Picture: SUFFOLK FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICEFirefighters tackling the blaze in Brandon Forest. Picture: SUFFOLK FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE (Image: Archant)

“Our main purpose was to stop it in its tracks and get lots of water here and tackle all the hot spots.

“When we turned up it was well alight and we got the crews to work using beaters and hose reels.”

The other crews who turned out to fight the flames and make the area safe came from Brandon, Thetford, Wickhambrook, Elmswell, Bury St Edmunds plus the Unimog from Bury.

They had dealt with the incident, which covered an 80 x 20 square metre area of undergrowth and gass, by 7.32pm.