TALES of both hope and despair emerged from the Cwmcarn area as the battle between firefighters and the mountaintop blaze there continued into a second day.

Members of the emergency services shared stories suggesting the drama of the fires had brought out the best in local communities, while an environmental agency warned of the tragic consequences the blaze would have on animal life.

The blaze on Twmbarlwm could be spotted up to four miles away, with social media users from Malpas posting photographs of the flames on Sunday night.

One firefighter posted on Twitter how “amazed” he was by the support members of the public had been offering crews tackling the blaze.

Images showed stacks of bottles of water and fizzy drinks left for firefighters by residents from the area, as well as a thank you card which said: “We really appreciate the hard work you are putting in to save our mountains”.

As firefighters struggled to subdue the flames and prevent the fires spreading further across the mountains, a spokesman from a national environmental agency warned blazes like the ones in Cwmcarn would have devastating effects on local wildlife.

Peter Cloke, Deputy Forest District Manager for Natural Resources Wales (NRW), said:

“Wildfires pose a serious risk to our officers, the firefighters who have to tackle these outbreaks, as well as people living and working in the area.

“The fire at Cwmcarn Forest has affected 70 hectares of forestry – a mixture of tree canopy and recently-felled areas consisting of branches and leaves on the woodland floor.

“Any wildlife in the path of the fire will most likely be killed and [the fire] will destroy their habitat and food source.

“Some species of plants and animals may take years to recover.

“With vast areas of the beautiful South Wales landscape left scorched, and the local forest and mountain bike trails having to close, these fires also have a damaging economic impact on the area’s businesses and tourism.”

About half of the public forestry affected had been newly-planted with tens of thousands of trees, NRW said, following the felling of infected larch trees.

This “makes it more devastating as this is a major set back in the recovery of the forest and a considerable amount of public money has gone into replanting the area over the last two years”, Mr Cloke said.

Around 12 hectares of private land had also been caught up in the fires NRW said.