Firefighters near Penzance have said it was lucky that a walker spotted smoke rising from the woodland, or a fire could have spread much further.
The crew from Penzance Community Fire Station was called to a small woodland outside Mousehole on Friday, August 14. It came as the government issued a series of alerts not to light bonfires in England and Wales.
The firefighters posted a video of the area they had to deal with, which showed how much and how quickly the fire had spread.
A spokesperson for the fire station said: "Please don’t light bonfires/campfires during this exceptionally dry period.
"On Friday we dealt with this fire that started from what many people think is a safer way to have a campfire in a ring of stones.
"However the video shows just how these fires spread often even after they seem to have been extinguished. The soil in this wooded area near Mousehole is very peaty so the fire burned down into the soil and then tracked out around it and spread after whoever had lit it had left."
The crew added: "If the smoke hadn't been spotted by a walker this would have spread into the nearby woodland and would likely have caused a very large fire.
"It was tricky to deal with as it was at the end of a remote very steep path which meant getting water to it was a problem hence the use of the water backpack."
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Walker’s Smoke Spotting Prevented Large Cornwall Fire