Preparing for Wildfire in the UK

Tarbet, Loch Nevis

Simon Thorp

• Qualified Rural Chartered Surveyor• Chartered Environmentalist • Director of The Heather Trust

– since May 2002

• Vice-Chairman England & Wales Wildfire Forum

• Director Scotland’s Moorland Forum• Based in Dumfries

– Covers all UK and beyond

• Introduction• Impressions from International Wildfire Conference• Questions

• What is the scale of the UK’s wildfire problem?• What should we be doing about it?• Can we learn lessons from other countries?

• Conclusions

The Plan

Introduction

The Heather Trust

• What is The Heather Trust?– A charity– Dedicated to moorland management

throughout the UK– A membership organisation

• What do we do?– Seek to integrate all management– provide an independent view– work for & with: private landowners,

farmers, agencies & NGOs– contribute to committees & consultations

Current areas of activity

Current areas of activity

Current areas of activity

Current areas of activity

Current areas of activity

Wildfire Interest

Source: Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project, NASA-GSFC, and ORBIMAGE, 18 April 2003

South Africa

9 - 13 May 2011

Wildfire Conference, South Africa, May

2011

• Chance to mix with international wildfire community

• Soak up other people’s ideas• Put UK issues in perspective• Bring some ideas back• Interesting timing

– Fires burning across UK

Impressions 1

• Scale of global wildfire– 350-400m ha p.a. – size of India

• Effect of climate change– Increasing temperature fire activity➨– Link between temperature and rainfall– +10% precipitation = 1oC

• Spanish problem– Current area of wildfire 148,000 ha p.a.– Climate change model – medium scenario – Increasing to 1,526,000 ha by 2050– Exacerbated by weather events

Impressions 2

• South Africa– Expenditure R306m– Forestry losses from wildfire R3.6 bn– Fire suppression target 368,000 ha p.a.

• Wildfire risk reduction– Prescribed burning an accepted policy– Fight fire with fire

• Flames do not need to be put out• Fire is a natural phenomenon

– Not a new problem– Going to see more of it

• Poor communities rely on open fires– Cooking, heating - more sources of ignition

Impressions 3

• Australia Black Saturday – 7 Feb 2009– 450,000 ha burnt, 173 deaths, 2029 houses lost,

cost $Aus 4Bn

• Smoke pollution – Russia– July / August 2010– 55,800 people premature deaths

Impressions 4

• International cooperation– Enormous amount of work in progress– Research– Development of techniques

• Better application of science– Fire danger rating systems– Better understanding of science– Modelling– Fire weather index

• UK a poor relation– A reluctant player– Great benefit to be had from improving links

Fire Danger Rating Prediction

Fire Danger Rating Table

Questions

What is the scale of the UK’s wildfire problem?

• Not on a par with other fire countries:– Mediterranean – USA, Canada– Africa– India

• But still significant– Not all about remote hillsides– Swinley Forest– Dorset Heaths– South Wales

What should we be doing about it?

• More top down support– Wildfire can happen anywhere– Impact on critical infrastructure– Closure of M3 during the Olympics– Meeting with DCLG– Funding needed

• Better organisation on the ground– Fire Groups– Peak District Fire Operations Group– Northumberland FRS– Integration of landowners / managers– Decision Support System for Prescribed

Burning

Can we learn lessons from other countries?

• Yes – wake up UK• Fire modelling and prediction• Fire management fire ➨

suppression – delicate balancing act– protection vs conservation

• Heather burning / muirburn / swaling– Risk reduction tool– Apply science

• Stop being precious about fire– Fuel load rises– Catastrophic risk increases

Conclusions

• Wildfire can strike anywhere• Effect of climate change

– May 2011 could become a regular feature

• Need to plan and prepare– Wildfire is not an exceptional event– Expect it to happen– When the FRS is called is too late

• Improve level of FRS preparedness• Wildfire Forum & Fire Groups• It could happen here

– The Australian Black Saturday– Russian Smoke pollution