Up to 60 firefighters were drafted in to battle a huge fire raging over 45 acres of gorse heathland on Saturday.
The firefighters, drafted in from across East and West Sussex, tackled the blaze with the help of 50 Army cadets stationed nearby.
The fire broke out at Pipingford Park, near Kingstanding, in Ashdown Forest, at 9am and spread rapidly following days of unseasonably hot weather.
A spokesman for East Sussex fire service said: "There will be an investigation into the cause of this fire after it has been extinguished. At this stage it is too early to say what caused it.
"It is likely to burn on for most of the day, but it is under control. The cadets are assisting us with beating it down.
"At the same time every year we get large fires in the forest. Even if the ground is wet, the gorse on top is dry and the fire will sweep across the hills."
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