West Yorkshire Fire warns wildfires are 'significant' growing threat
It comes as crews continue to tackle a fire on Marsden Moor - the 7th one so far this year
West Yorkshire Fire service says wildfires are a huge concern heading into summer, after last year saw a record number.
Crews dealt with nearly a thousand large blazes, with July seeing a particular spike. That’s more than triple the previous record in 2018, which saw around 250 significant wildfires.
Last year also saw the loss of around 60 homes nationally for the first time as wildfires start to cross into urban areas.
“These are precious landscapes,” says group manager Richard Hawley, who’s West Yorkshire’s wildfire lead.
“All around this area we have peatland, so that’s areas that capture massive amounts of carbon and hold it within the ground.
“The upland areas of Yorkshire are as rare as the rainforest in terms of their carbon capture. But when we have a fire and it damages that peat area, that carbon is then released into the atmosphere.”
Crews have already dealt with six fires on Marsden Moor this year, with at least two of those being treated as arson. A seventh fire broke out there yesterday (21st May), with crews still at the scene.
As the weather gets warmer, Richard says the threat of wildfires is hugely concerning.
“Climate change is a significant factor in the increasing wildfires,” he says.
“We’re seeing longer, drier, hotter periods of weather as we go into summer so the ground is drying out, the vegetation is dry and stressed. And it just takes a spark for this land to really catch fire.
“As we look around we’re only into May, but a lot of the grass as you stand over it – you can hear it crunching. So what can seem like a relatively small controlled fire or BBQ can quickly get out of hand.
“What we also see with disposable BBQs is the heat they emit is immense. And if it’s on top of peatland, you can put the BBQ out and you think it’s out, but that heat has been transmitted underground and is already burning into the peat. And that can develop into significant fires.”
Richard recently spent time with fire crews in Catalonia learning how they are dealing with the increasing threat of wildfires.