Media contributions
1Media contributions
Title BBC Radio Manchester - Wildfires across the UK Degree of recognition Regional Media name/outlet BBC Radio Manchester Media type Radio Duration/Length/Size 7 minutes [16:09 - 16:16] Country/Territory United Kingdom Date 8/04/25 Description Initially the news story began about the impact of wildfires on wildlife with comments from Alan Wright from the local Wildlife Trust. Talking about the impact of wildfires on ground nesting birds e.g. Lapwings, Skylarks and Curlew. Wildfires seem to becoming more common with the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service dealing with 12 since January which is double the highest total recorded in the same period over the past four years. Fire fighters have been tackling wildfires across the country including a blaze near Oldham. Gail was asked as Earth Observation Scientist at the University of Manchester, the following questions by interviewer Michelle Dignan:
How unusual is it for wildfires at this time of year?
We do get wildfires in early spring in March/April especially in moorland areas. I think what is unusual about this year is the quantity happening simultaneously across the different areas of the country.
Is that quite unusual and do we know why that is?
If we look at EFFIS records we are getting more wildfires occurring over this past 10 years 111,781 ha of total burned area for fires of 30 hectares or larger, if we compare this to the previous 10 years that drops down to 24,805 ha. This last ten years shows 4.5 times more wildfires taking place than the previous 10 years when the records began in EFFIS back in 2006.
What has changed then? Is it the weather conditions or human behaviour?
It is a mix of the two. We are getting warmer and drier springs but also in terms of human behaviour the wildfires that occur in the UK are usually caused by accidential ignition through the disposal of cigrarette ends and lighting of barbeques then not putting them out or through arson aswell. So it is a combination of the two really. This time of the year we see a build up of dry dessicated fuel in early spring. We have not yet had the green-up of vegetation which takes place in late spring early summer, so the Fuel Moisture Content (FMC) is currently very low. We have also had quite windy conditions aswell which fans the flames of wildfires when they do occur. So its a mix of experiencing a high pressure system, windy conditions and more people going out into these open spaces which then increases the probability of ignition.
Its probably quite hard is it to go back and see what actually started these wildfires given they can be so distructive?
Yes, the fire and rescure service teams will investigate and try and find out the cause of ignition which will then be recorded in their Incident Recording System (IRS). Sometimes it is unestablished what was the original point of ignition.
So the advice is if you are going to go for a walk in these beautiful places is to not be naive and not take things like disposal barbeques, not drop cigarette ends. What other advice Gail would you have for everybody?
To be vigilent aswell to call in the the fire services if you see a fire because they can spread quite quickly depending on weather conditions so don't be passive about that. Also, to increase awareness about wildfires in the UK. There are some brilliant community initiatives such as FireWise UK and Be FireAware on Marsden Moor which is not far away from Manchester where they are increasing awareness around wildfire risk and signpost aswell on those moorland areas for people to take care when walking on these areas. There needs to be a national campaign given the widespread geographical reach of wildfires this spring. We have seen wildfires over in Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, on the Mourne Mountains of Northern Ireland, Galloway hills in Scotland, Upton Heath in Dorset and also in the midlands at Bardon Hill aswell and in the Peak District which is local here to Manchester so we really need to be considering more of a national message about wildfire risk around the springtime when we get these warm dry conditions.Producer/Author Michelle Dignan URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live/bbc_radio_manchester Persons Gail Millin-Chalabi
Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms
- Manchester Environmental Research Institute
Keywords
- Geographical spread
- National awareness
- Wildfires
- EFFIS
- 10 year period
- Incident Recording System
- Arson
- Accidental ignition