I have a well established privet hedge which has patches of dead foliage among it. It's not frost or herbicide damage.
Can fireblight attack privet? The symptoms are very like it.The leaves are brown all the way up the stem on some branches, as if they have been scorched.

The hedge is on light sandy soil and is about 12 years old with no past problems.

Thank you for any advice

I'm not sure but sounds like it may be a fungal issue of some sort. I know that Privets can be susceptible to twig blight which is caused by a fungus.

You can find information on these pages:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/p...
https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-t...
https://www.gardenguides.com/9...

Trish 😀 Howdy
Pictures help.
There finicky sometimes.
A high dry spot in soil, a varmint, an animal, kids, ants attacking or building nest in roots.
Do more inspecting ! See, what you can find.
Then get back with some pictures, and your inspection results. Will you ?

Thank You 👍👍
😎😎😎

We had a pear tree with fire blight. I cut it down and burned all the branches.

Here is a bit of information about some plants that might get fire blight. Sorry, I'm too tired to research each one.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTN...

Thank you all for your replies. I will send pics shortly.

Privet photos, any advice greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Yep. Looks like mine did ownce.
I cut the dead parts out.
It will grow back on its own.

OR ! You can tie a few growing branches from either side together, across hole, to help it along.

Thanks, Phil.

I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.