We are 15 miles south as the crow flies and we can see the orange of the fire on the horizon. The smell of smoke isn't too bad during the day, but in the evening its not great, cured by having the windows shut.
The main coast road between Whitby and Scarborough is basically closed so we've loads more traffic than normal because of diversions. Plus we live fairly close to the main access route for the fire engines etc and it's a bit of a steady stream of fire engines and sirens along the road. The fire is in an area that's not got a great road network, and where there are roads they are mainly single track/stone/forestry roads.
The community are pulling together to fight the flames, farmers, gamekeepers etc etc. Cafes and individuals are feeding the crews fighting.
It seems to be sticking to the moorland at the moment but there are huge areas of forestry in the immediate vicinity which could be affected, not forgetting the caravan parks, pubs, B&Bs etc.
But there are still reports of people having bbqs on the moors and forested areas.
If you have a 360 Digger licence you can also earn 23.00/hr for a 9hr shift... Think the farmers are doing it for free...
Its a massive fire, and in the peat, so it will continue burning for blinking ages. It was notionally 'out' on Friday with just a couple of crews watching and tackling it, but by Sunday had erupted into flames, think because of a change in wind direction/a bit more heat. Because its burning underground its tricky to tackle. And there's also old ordnance up there as well, which is randomly exploding which isn't great. There's going to be nothing left of the moor for huge areas just south of Whitby, towards Robin Hoods Bay and down.
People talk about regrowth, but the problem is that the regrowth is likely to be mostly bracken, which is a bit of a pest.
If you are interested in the fires progression google NASA Fire Map . This clearly shows the extent of the carnage. This has overtaken FlightRadar as my most looked at page!.