In many places the burning has spread to peat soil, which emits large volumes of carbon and where the fires are hard to extinguish.

The peat soil becomes waterlogged after the lightest of showers, and it has almost no load-bearing capacity — the run-down bungalow was slowly sinking into the ground.

The plant grows in rocky nooks that shelter it from the wind and keep the mossy peat soil saturated, but not flooded.

By building small dams and blocks, the drainage of the area was stopped, preventing further oxidation of the peat soil.

Pieces of wood can make up five to 15 percent of the peat soil.