Wildfires a 'heavy drain' on firefighting resources

Bosses at a fire service say it has had its "busiest week in nearly four years", putting a "heavy drain" on firefighting resources.

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service said its crews attended 813 incidents, which included 226 fires in the space of a week, an average of one incident every 12 minutes.

Steve Fisher from the service's community risk team has urged people to be "vigilant and be mindful" of the threat of wildfires, and to think twice when lighting barbecues, campfires or bonfires.

He said wildfires are "a heavy resource drain" which "can last days rather than hours" and "come at great cost".

The fire service said with the hot weather and dry ground set to continue, the risk of fire remained high.

It added "small fires can spread quickly, turning a car fire into a large hedgerow fire, or an unattended BBQ or bonfire into a wildfire covering acres of land".

Fisher said only 10 to 15% of wildfires occur naturally, with the majority caused by human activity.

He encouraged people not to use disposable BBQs and to take their rubbish home with them, as fires could easily start in the current conditions.

Crews tackled a large blaze in Taunton on Thursday involving 200 tonnes of wood and woodchip.

At the height of the incident crews from Taunton, Bridgwater, Wellington, Burnham-on-Sea and Somerton were in attendance, with four fire engines and a water bowser.

Fisher said during the warm conditions the service had to "drastically reduce the time" its firefighters could work, further drawing more of its resources.

"What could have been done with 20 firefighters may take 100 because of the conditions and looking after their welfare."

He said: "Everybody knows how warm and and dry it is, so just take that into consideration with all the activities that we do.

"The more we can do, hopefully we can prevent these things from happening."

The service was called to a "large fire" overnight on Saturday which "completely destroyed" a building at a closed visitor attraction near Paignton, Devon.

The fire service said four crews from Torquay, Paignton and Newton Abbot found the old cookery school engulfed by flames and had to ensure the fire did not spread to surrounding grassland.

Lee Wilkes from the Cornwall Fire Rescue Service said it was a similar situation in Cornwall with multiple wildfires and gorse fires, one of which took about 20 hours to get under control.

The service said Cornwall sat at very high on the fire severity index, which is calculated by the Met Office to evaluate how severe a wildfire could become if one ignites.

"All of these incidents are resource intensive", Wilkes said.

"We send a lot of appliances to wildfires and a lot of people. They're not dealt with quickly."

He said "something so small can create a fire" and "once the wind gets behind it, it will just take off."

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