Wildfires position statement

1. Issue identification

Wildfires have become an increasingly common part of fire and rescue service (FRS) response and prevention activities as the UK experiences more extreme weather events due to climate change. Most wildfires in the UK are caused because of human activity, including leisure activities or deliberate acts, however, the impacts of climate change increase the risk and severity of wildfires.

Wildfires are starting earlier in the season and typically last longer due to prolonged higher temperatures than the historic average. Furthermore, whereas wildfires were previously limited to primarily rural areas of the UK within the service areas of certain FRS, we are increasingly finding that wildfires can now occur almost anywhere in the country, including wildfires crossing into the ‘rural urban interface’ (where vegetation meets the built environment).
Wildfires spanning multiple geographies and Local Resilience Forum boundaries create challenges around capacity and resilience for FRS to be able to adequately resource and respond in a timely manner.

2. NFCC position

Responding to wildfire incidents is not a specifically funded capability and falls into the general FRS duty to extinguish fires. As such, costs associated with the development of capabilities and capacity to fight wildfires is currently drawn from FRS core budgets, which are being cut in real terms. FRS are reliant upon tactical advisors coordinated through NFCC National Resilience, however, national assets and further resources for FRS are limited. The recently established funding for a wildfires position with the National Resilience Assurance Team must be kept under review and provided with additional support if necessary in the future.

Whilst there is a growing amount of academic research and an increasing number of incidents related to wildfires across the globe, the picture in the UK is hampered by inconsistent definitions of wildfires and recording of incidents in local and national statistics. By adopting a single definition across UK Governments and agencies, and combining this with greater coordination and joint working between government departments and partners, monitoring and analysis of the challenges facing the UK can be improved. This in turn can then be used to inform policy decisions and improve strategic management of wildfire risks.

3. Recommendations

  • Government should keep funding for national roles to support wildfire preparedness and response under review to ensure that national resources are sufficient and the wildfires portfolio is not under-resourced.
  • Government should establish more consistent collection of quality data at a national level to enable better forecasting of emerging risks, and the predicted scale and impact of wildfires on communities. This should be underpinned by a consistent definition of wildfires that is shared across all government departments and partner agencies and NFCC recommend using the definition included in National Operational Guidance (see below).
  • Government should improve joint-working across different departments to ensure that there is aligned strategic decision and policy-making on the prevention and management of wildfire risks across the UK.
  • Government should place greater emphasis on the importance of land management across relevant government departments, both centrally and within the Devolved Administrations, as well as statutory agencies and local authorities in order to reduce the number and severity of wildfires resulting from improper land management.
  • Government should work with the fire sector to ensure that requirements for specialist equipment and capabilities are clearly identified, and that there is appropriate funding available for key national resilience assets.

4. Supporting evidence

How climate change is increasing the risk and severity of wildfires in the UK

In other countries such as Australia, there is already evidence that climate change is increasing wildfire frequency and severity. Weather is a key variable in wildfire frequency and severity, and current climate change projections suggest that we will see conditions becoming more favourable for wildfires in the future. Hotter and drier summers create ideal conditions for increased fire, whilst milder and wetter winters will encourage plant growth, which can then act as a fuel for fires when conditions dry out.

Projections from the Met Office show that a 2°C increase in global temperatures will double the days in the UK with very high fire danger and extend the wildfire season into late summer and autumn. Other research confirms these projections, suggesting that the number of wildfire danger days could increase 3 to 4-fold by the 2080s. Such changes are expected to be most marked during the summer and in the south and east of England, but increases would be experienced across the UK. Government must monitor this evolving situation to ensure that the resources provided to FRS, particularly at a national level, are sufficient and fit for purpose.

Definitions

Wildfire incidents are not consistently recorded across the UK. In the Home Office Fire and Rescue Incident Statistics which report information submitted via the Incident Recording System, wildfires are not recorded as a specific incident type. Instead, wildfires could be captured by either the ‘other outdoors’ or ‘secondary fires’ categories. This makes tracking trends difficult, a problem that is exacerbated by different definitions of wildfires being used in the devolved administrations, in the media, and by FRS.

NFCC recommends that all UK Governments and partner agencies should adopt the definition of a wildfire used in NFCC National Operational Guidance, which states:

A wildfire is defined as any uncontrolled vegetation fire where a decision or action is needed about its suppression.

A wildfire will meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • Involves a geographical area of at least one hectare (10,000 square metres).
  • Has a sustained flame length of more than 1.5 metres.
  • Requires a committed resource of at least four FRS appliances/resources.
  • Requires resources to be committed for at least six hours.
  • Presents a serious threat to life, environment, property and infrastructure.

The Forestry Commission’s Wildfire Statistics for England 2020/21 reported that there were nearly 13,000 wildfires in England over the twelve years from 2009/10 to 2020/21 inclusive which met the definition of wildfires used in NFCC’s National Operational Guidance.

More accurate reporting would enable better forecasting of emerging risks and the predicted scale and impact of wildfires on communities. This information could be used by FRS to inform service resilience and the development of wildfire risk assessments by individual FRS.

Joint working

In addition to wildfire risk assessments, which are owned by individual FRS, it is necessary for local areas to develop wildfire prevention and mitigation strategies. Such strategies will include educating the public on wildfire risks and how to avoid them. This requires partnership working with local agencies, landowners and the community as a whole. More could be done to encourage this kind of partnership working, and this work would also benefit from greater Government engagement and oversight. Wildfires cross over the remit of the Home Office, Cabinet Office, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Greater collaboration would support strategic decision-making on the prevention and management of wildfire risks across the UK.

The impact of wildfires could be significantly reduced by a greater focus on the importance of land management and a coordinated approach across the UK Government, Devolved Administrations, statutory agencies, local authorities, and FRS.

This focus should encompass the following areas:

  • Prevention – education and awareness campaigns on how the public can mitigate the risk of wildfires.
  • Protection – legislation enabling enforcement action to be taken against those who do not undertake proper land management, and ensuring that FRS are engaged appropriately at the planning stage, particularly when there are changes in land usage.
  • Preparedness – development of multi-agency response planning across relevant stakeholders.
  • Response – ensuring firefighters are properly equipped and trained, facilitated by political and financial support.

Furthermore, a stronger interface between Government and local areas to share intelligence about wildfire risks and learning from operational response would help to inform any national policy and guidance and ensure that it is aligned to operational best practice.

The extent and impact of wildfires in the UK

In the last five years, there have been several wildfires across the UK that have required significant FRS resource, often over prolonged periods of time. This results in a challenge for FRS being able to maintain their ‘business as usual’ service whilst managing the significant resource and staffing pressures wildfires create.

2022 will be remembered for the passing of two significant milestones: a daily maximum temperature of more than 40˚C; and a national average temperature over the year of more than 10˚C. The intense heatwave the UK experienced over the summer in 2022 resulted in a total of 983 wildfires being recorded in England and Wales. This was an increase from 247 wildfires in 2021 and 146 wildfires in 2020, an increase of 315% and 573% respectively.

Across 18th and 19th July 2022, the hottest days of the year, 84 wildfires were recorded, and 14 FRS declared major incidents, 9 of which were linked to difficulties in responding due to the increase in operational demand. With fire control rooms experiencing a 500% increase in 999 calls from a daily average in England of just over 2,000 to almost 13,500 on 19 July 2022, it was necessary for several FRS to implement Operation Willow Beck to mitigate increased emergency call volumes.1

We are also seeing increasing number of wildfires crossing into the ‘rural urban interface’ (areas where vegetation meets the built environment) in the UK. Such instances were particularly prominent in 2022, resulting in significant property damage, evacuation of communities, and injuries. The Wennington wildfire that took place on 19th July 2022 resulted in many residents needing to be evacuated and destroyed 16 homes. As the UK population continues to increase, it is likely that we will see more wildfires of this nature.

As well as needing high levels of resource, tackling wildfires effectively requires an expert approach with firefighters trained on how to assess what resources are needed, how to ensure rotation of crews to avoid firefighters being exposed to intense heat for too long, and how to assess how wind and other weather conditions might affect fire behaviours. Wildfires can last for several days with firefighter resource often needed for days after the fire has been extinguished to dampen the ground to avoid reignition.

Specialist equipment is also needed including personal protective equipment (PPE), hydration packs for firefighters and other response equipment such as fire-break hoses, bowsers (mobile water tanks), drones and 4×4 vehicles. This is equipment that FRS will need to invest in long-term as wildfire incidents are likely to increase.

There are varying levels of public awareness and understanding of wildfire risks. Educating individuals, organisations and communities about wildfire risks is crucial to embed an understanding of how human behaviours contribute to the problem, and how modifying those behaviours reduces wildfire risk. With an increased risk of wildfires breaking out in the ‘rural urban interface’ where individuals will be at a high risk of harm, improving public education and awareness will be fundamental.

The international perspective

Managing wildfire risks varies between countries globally, however, as wildfires become more frequent and severe, many governments are making plans to improve firefighting capabilities and establish nationally co-ordinated approaches. In Australia, a single responsible government agency is being established, improvements made to data collection and warning systems, and additional funding dedicated to improve effectiveness of response and national resilience.

Wildfire management plans abroad have often been prompted in the aftermath of devasting loss and damage caused by wildfires. Taking action now in the UK to ensure aligned strategic decision and policy-making on the prevention and management of wildfire risks, and taking steps to ensure that FRS are well equipped and resourced to respond to wildfires is essential to minimise the damage from wildfires.

References

  1. G.van Oldenborgh, F. Krikken, S. Lewis et al., ‘Attribution of the Australian bushfire risk to anthropogenic climate change’, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences: volume 21, 2021.
  2. UK Health Security Agency, Health Effects of Climate Change (HECC) Report 2023 Chapter 10: Wildfires and health.
  3. Perry, E. Vanvyve, R. Betts and E. Palin, ‘Past and future trends in fire weather for the UK’, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences: volume 22, 2022.
  4. Forestry Commission, Wildfire Statistics for England Report to 2020-21.
  5. BBC, ‘Wanstead Flats grass fire tackled by 200 firefighters’, 15th July 2018.
  6. BBC, ‘Moorland fires: Wildfires “spread dangerous pollution to millions”’, 8th April 2020.
  7. BBC, ‘Firefighters tackling large wildfires in south Wales’, 15th June 2023.
  8. The Press and Journal, ‘Massive Moray wildfire that gripped the nation finally comes to an end’, 27th April 2019.
  9. The Guardian, ‘Summer wildfires increased fourfold in England in 2022’, 30th December 2022.
  10. Australian Government, Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report, 28th October 2020.
  11. Australian Government, A national approach to national disasters – the Commonwealth Government response to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, November 2020.
  12. Australian Government, National Report: Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements recommendations implementation status, 20th October 2023.