By SAM GREENHILL, THE CHIEF REPORTER and JOE ROSSITER, REPORTER<\/p>\n
Published: 20:41 BST, 9 August 2026 | Updated: 21:21 BST, 9 August 2026<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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'.<\/p>\n
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.'<\/p>\n
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.'<\/p>\n
Another fire officer said the blaze was out of control and would not be tamed until at least tomorrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hundreds of drivers remained stuck by the spreading fire while crews worked out how to evacuate them from the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Drivers were ordered to leave their cars 'if you want to stay alive' on the A31 in Hampshire this afternoon<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
A fire officer said the fire was out of control and would not be tamed until tomorrow<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.'<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n