HEAVY smoke was seen for miles after a huge grass fire engulfed the land of a golf course.

The fire involving 3,700 sqm of grassland took place at around 4pm on Sunday (August 5) at Burnham and Berrow Golf Club, St Christophers Way, Burnham-on-Sea.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue received 15 calls reporting the flames which led to the evacuation of the golf course.

Karen Drake, managing secretary, said: “We are still fully open after the fire. Luckily the fire didn’t damage any of the playing surface.

“The flames engulfed an area of land that isn’t used for playing.”

Five fire engines arrived at the golf course to tackle the blaze.

The fire was rapidly spreading so firefighters got to work to contain it.

A spokesman said: “A crew from Burnham On Sea was sent and requested the attendance of four further pumping engines, a water carrier and a 4x4 vehicle.

“The crews confirmed there was a fire front of approximately 1000M rapidly spreading due to strong winds.

“The crews used hose reels, jets and beaters in order to extinguish the fire but not before approximately 3,700 square metres of grassland were set alight.”

The golf course was evacuated while the firefighters battled the flames. Although the grassland was not used for playing, many species of wildlife lived there.

Ms Drake added: “The fire service did such excellent work and it was under control in a couple of hours.

“It’s business as usual but we did evacuate everyone on the day.

“It was scary, and very distressing to watch the wildlife who use the area, like the deer, fleeing. There were also some rare orchids there.”