Wildfire - and now Dartmoor

Fire on Chat Tor, Dartmoor. Photo: BBC News

Although rather after the event, I think it worth recording that it is not only Scotland and Wales that have suffered this year.  Dartmoor has had a large-scale incident on Chat Tor.  See the BBC News report.  It is interesting to note the the report mentioned that 100 firefighters used beaters to control the fire which extended to 1,482 acres.  I hope this part of the report was inaccurate that the Devon FRS can provide less stone age equipment for its firefighters.

This incident will add some spice to the discussion at the meeting of the England & Wales Wildfire Forum that I am attending on Friday.

Hopefully with the forecast change in the weather this will be the last incident report in this blog for a time, but this watershed marks the shift from talking about fires to thinking about the lessons that can be learned from the incidents up and down the country.  I think it is important to start this process quickly before the rain settles the ash and the smell of burnt vegetation washes out of firefighters hair. It will be too late to consider the lessons in the summer, when life has moved on.

I will post a few ideas onto this blog in the next few days to see if this produces some response.