A massive fire which broke out across a mountain in Snowdonia has been likened to a scene from 'Lord of the Rngs'.
Firefighters were called to the peak of Foel Dduarth at 2.32pm on Monday after being alerted to the fire. A chairman of a local graziers' association, Gareth Wyn Jones, also rushed to the scene after being initially alerted to the fire, North Wales Live reports.
He described the devastating scene as "something you would see in the Lord of the Rings" while noting that "the whole of the mountain has gone, it's completely devastated".
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He added: "In all my years I’ve never seen a fire move so fast. It’s just unbelievable. We’ll have to wait until the morning to find out if it’s spread to other mountains nearby.”
Dozens of rare Carneddau hill ponies were gathered off the mountain by local farmers and helpers for health checks and were returned the night before the fire broke out. Gareth remains steadfast that the animals are okay.
"I hope so anyway,” he said. “I don’t believe they would have come to any harm unless they got trapped in a pocket of fire.”
A cause for the blaze has not yet been confirmed. Some on social media have speculated that it resulted from controlled burning but Gareth rejects this. "The mountain is in an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), so burning is not allowed there. It may have been an accident, arson or an act of God," he said.
"An accident, such as a discarded cigarette, is another possibility, as the area is heavily walked. But the mountains are so wet at this time of year it’s hard to see how it could have caught hold.”
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