Fire in Stourbridge news spread into Walsall shortly after 15:20 BST, when crews were sent to Clayhanger Common by Clayhanger Road after multiple reports of smoke and fire. Fifteen homes were evacuated, and residents later returned after the fire was brought under control.
West Midlands Police said residents were allowed back into the 15 homes after the evacuation. The fire service said the blaze covered about 200 sqm of a 70-acre field, with eight fire crews sent to the scene.
Clayhanger Road in Walsall
Crews had to take water from a nearby canal to tackle the fire. The fire service said the field fire affected about half of the wider field, which made the response more than a routine grass-fire callout and explains why nearby homes were treated as a risk early on.
By 17:30 BST, the fire was getting contained and a planned evacuation of a further 60 homes was not needed. That shift matters because the response moved from initial removal of residents to holding the line around the field before the situation spread further into surrounding streets.
West Midlands in
No one was hurt, and the immediate impact ended when residents went back home. Fire crews were also called to grass fires at Sheepwash Lane in Tipton, Brownshill Green Road in Coventry, Warrens Hall Nature Reserve in Dudley and Gildas Avenue in Kings Norton, Birmingham, giving the day a wider pattern of five fires across four other parts of the region.
The remaining question is what caused the fire in the field near Clayhanger Road. For people living near the road, the practical takeaway is simple: the evacuation order ended, but the scale of the response showed how quickly a field fire can force homes out before conditions change again.
