Moor Fires

[Honeyroar]

I live in one of the areas that had horrible moor fires last summer. This year there have already been several big fires, basically they occur every time that there is any sunny weather. Some have been arson, others carelessness, but either way the wildlife and moors themselves are going to be lucky to survive the year if it continues. The fire brigade are doing their very best to save them.

For those of you who live in other areas of moorland, have you had any problems? Or is it just that there are just too many idiots around here?

I don’t live near any moorland but I have been following the latest moor fire on the radio the last couple of days. I feel really sad when I hear of such fires and the damage they cause.
There was a fireman being interviewed on the radio today about the Ilkley Moor fire and I was shocked when he said that BBQs are allowed on the moors. Surely this should be made illegal, when the weather is hot and dry a BBQ could so easily cause a fire.

A lot of fires have been caused by bbqs. They’ve actually got rangers going round telling people to put them out, but the numpties are getting quite aggressive back at them! I think portable bbqs should be illegal personally.

I drove across the moor a couple of days ago and it was so dry, it looked like it wouldn’t take much to set afire.

Not moorland but there's vast areas of scrub / heath / common land near where I live and there have been loads of fires recently! Drove to the beach yesterday and there was a huge fire raging, and surrounding areas were blackened from recent fires. Its not the type of land to spark up a bbq though. Is it people starting them deliberately then? I've often wondered this but never progressed to actually asking in case I sounded thick and it was controlled burning or heat combustion or something, since they alway happen when it's dry and warm. They rage for hours sometimes. Loads of wild horses, grazing sheep and cows etc. So much wildlife. Must cause devastation nature-wise. Seem more frequent now than ever before.

We live near Lyme park and that caught fire on Thursday turned out to be a bbq which was started in a national park and caused a ridiculous amount of damage. Also police stopped a bbq in dovestones.. but I think with the amount of mood fires (Ilkley included) it must be arson

I grew up near Ilkley Moor and there never used to be issues with fires spreading. They would do controlled burning to manage the moorland, but these kind of out of control fires just didn’t happen

I live in Fort McMurray, Canada. 2200 homes were destroyed here almost 3 years ago after a massive forest fire.
The snow has only just gone, parts of the river are still frozen and our fire risk is already high. Camping season hasn’t started yet and there’s already a fire ban in place.

We’ve had a lot near us lately. Some have definitely been arson others possibly natural/discarded glass.

There seems to have been more of them and they have been more severe so far this year than other years. Multiple fires in different areas some days :(

I am sure there used to be grass strips As fire gaps in the 70s on the Moors near us.They used to deliberately fire sections no sure why, to encourage new growth perhaps

I think they have done some controlled burning last month. The whole moor (and hills and valleys surrounding them are S covered in dry, dead grass). I live on a small holding below the moors. Our land is usually rushes and bog. This year it's dry. The dead rushes are choking any new grass. Twenty years ago people used to "sweal" dead grass (burn it off) so the new grass came through. Nowadays I think it's illegal.

The fire on the moor travelled three or four miles last night and is now looming above us. There are helicopters bringing waster, but there's a strong wind too. I don't think the moor or the wildlife will survive this summer if it's like this already.

It's climate change making these more frequent (probably in combination with our land management). The 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years.

Rightly the police pursue criminals who start fires, but why do we not criminalise the oil companies funding climate change denial?

I live in this region, it's so sad to see the destruction

Controlled burning is carried out on the moors around where I live, but they aren't allowed to do it after 15th April.

I think that the big moor fires are the result of carelessness with barbeques, or arson, and I agree with a pp who said portable barbeques should be illegal, and strict fire bans enforced in upland areas.

Last year, I spent some time very near an area in Scotland where a large fire had only just been put out. You could smell the charred wood and the devastation was very visible. Yet there were still people starting camp fires/bbqs on the ground nearby, near trees etc. The stupidity of some people is hard to credit.

From your post I'm guessing I live in the same area as you.

It's been shocking this year - far worse than any I remember before - it feels like there have been fires every week since mid Feb and the current one is just awful.

The cost to wildlife and in monetary terms is too much. Some are BBQs but there have been suggestions that sharing pictures on social media fuel arsonists too which is just really sad.

Controlled burning is carried out on the moors near me, but they aren't allowed to do it after 15th April.

I think these fires are either carelessness with barbeques or arson, and I agree with a pp that portable barbeques should be banned as they cause too much damage. Fire bans should be enforced in all upland areas during the summer months, as there will always be people who are too stupid to realise that a bbq/campfire on bone dry heather or peat is a recipe for disaster.

It's expected to rain on Wednesday and so this may help. Portable BBQ restrictions would have some justification it seems.

Argh, I thought my previous post hadn't posted so retyped it! Ignore the duplication. .

Yes I live near one of the areas which was badly affected last year. The fire burned for about a month.
Utter idiots have been setting fires in the same areas again already, no doubt trying to cause the same thing. I can smell fire now. It’s been dry for about a month here (unusual in my area), but heavy rain is forecast from Tuesday onwards, so it might deter them.

Yes rain would help, but it will just happen again next time it’s sunny. 😓. It’s a combination of stupidity with accidental fires (cigs/bbqs/bottles thrown out of cars), arson and weather. Horrible to see.

The use of portable BBQs in these areas should be made illegal and rigorously enforced...£1,000 fine if caught. That would definitely be a deterrent.

Would you believe, despite one moor having a huge, raging, out of control fire, they've had to tell four sets of visitors at another visitors area below the moor a couple of miles away to put out their barbecues. People are either totally stupid or selfish (or both).

The firefighters are doing amazing work. The helicopter pilot is superb. They keep getting the front line out, but it keeps reigniting. It's a nightmare.