By SAM GREENHILL, THE CHIEF REPORTER and JOE ROSSITER, REPORTER
Published: 20:41 BST, 9 August 2026 | Updated: 21:21 BST, 9 August 2026
Police told drivers to leave their cars 'if you want to stay alive' as a van fire sparked a wildfire by a dual carriageway this afternoon.
Traffic came to a halt and drivers were ordered to the side of the road after flames from the van ignited 'tinderbox bracken' by the westbound A31 near the New Forest in Hampshire.
A policewoman told drivers to get out of their cars and move to the central reservation next to the road 'if you want to stay alive'.
Later a firefighter was overheard telling a police officer: 'We want all the cars and people off the carriageway. Unattended cars are basically bombs when they go off.'
A fire officer at the scene said: 'We believe it was a van that caught fire on the road and that set alight to the shrubs at the side of the road.'
Another fire officer said the blaze was out of control and would not be tamed until at least tomorrow.
Hundreds of drivers remained stuck by the spreading fire while crews worked out how to evacuate them from the area.
Drivers were ordered to leave their cars 'if you want to stay alive' on the A31 in Hampshire this afternoon
A policewoman was filmed directing drivers to the central reservation after a van fire spread to the vegetation by the westbound carriageway near the New Forest
A fire officer said the fire was out of control and would not be tamed until tomorrow
Motorists told how flames spread across both sides of the dual carriageway about a mile from the Canadian War Memorial just north-east of Shobley.
One driver said: 'It happened so fast. Some drivers just went straight through the flames. Others did emergency stops, turned around and tried to get back along the carriageway. It was sheer panic.'
Libbi Aldred, 36, said she had been driving on the dual carriageway when around ten cars in front of her began slowing down and putting their hazards on.