Residents and holidaymakers are now preparing to briefly be escorted to their properties and vehicles, including motorhomes and touring caravans, at Cliff House camp site and Dunwich Cliff camp site, Mirror’s Patrick Hill reports from the scene in Dunwich.
They will be taken into both camp sites on a minibus in a convoy escorted by police. They will then be given 15 minutes to collect their belongings before being escorted out again.
At a 1.30pm briefing for evacuees, Peter Langford, emergency planning officer for Suffolk County Council, said: “The news you’ve all been waiting for that is that we have a very small window of opportunity to go in and pick up personal possessions, essentials, medication, and bring cars out.
“It is still a fast moving situation. From the fire perspective, it is still an unstable situation.
“In fact, they’ve increased a number of pumps back there and they’re just about to bring in the helicopter as well. So we have a very small window of opportunity.”
He added: “You’re going to get about 15 minutes when you get there. Can I ask, please, obviously, you don’t put anybody else’s life at risk because when you get there, the police are going to be escorting you, and then they’re gonna wait and escort you out.
“So you will go pick up your possessions and get your car and then come back. Once we’ve done the first run, we’ll then do the second run, but it is a very small window of opportunity to do it.”