Wildfire prevention tools
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In the midst of another heatwave fire safety warnings are ringing out as the risk of wildfire is classed by the metoffice as high and very high in England and Wales. And in Scotland the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) issued a warning of a "very high" wildfire risk rising to exceptional in some locations.
Over the last few weeks there have been wildfires across the country: in Wales on Rhigos Mountain in Rhondda Cynon Taf, in England in the Peak District right on the edge of the National Park with the blaze reportedly being seen miles away and yet more devastation on Marston Moor (West Yorkshire) with the outbreak last week being the seventh in only four months. Some massive fires have been raging across Scotland with smoke from one of the largest at Cannich in the Highlands visible from space. But still the warnings are going unheeded with another fire in Perthshire in recent days, this one started by an overturned disposable barbecue.
Last year the Moorlands Association was warning of the catastrophic risk of wildfire with 55 incidents being recorded in only three months to March.
The National Fire Chiefs Association says: "Most wildfires in the UK originate from human activity. These will either be leisure activities or deliberate acts. Often carried out by people unaware of the risks associated with fire, especially wildfires." The combination of dead vegetation which builds up over the winter, dry weather and high temperature can lead to spate conditions for such fires.
But what can land owners and countryside managers do to reduce the risk?
In 2021 Adam Farrow, Watch Manager Prevention at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service wrote a guide for CJS readers: How land managers can work to reduce the chances of an accidental fire being started by visitors, outlining the basics of how land management can help reduce the risk, covering practical tasks such as reducing the fuel (build up of vegetation) and administrative ones such as ensuring you have training for staff and a good communication strategy for visitors. Read the guide here.
To help with the communication strategy the Fire Chiefs Association has a range of resources for you to use, posters and images for social media including those in this signpost feature, posters and information notices, access these on the FCA website here or use the links below.
Northumberland Fire and Rescue have a compressive toolkit available completely free, covering everything from educating yourself and your visitors to being prepared should the worst happen. Along with a collection of best practice examples from around the world it provides a range of tools to help fire and rescue services, key stakeholders and partner agencies prevent and reduce the impact of wildfires.
You can read about what the National Trust is doing to protect Marsden Moor from fire here.
Resources for you to download and use, please note these are hosted on external websites.
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