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Fight fire with fire?

WITH scientific debate raging alongside the flames, the Moorland Association (MA) calls for a ‘major rethink’ on policy for tackling wildfires, reminding the public that as heatwaves become more common, we are essentially leaving fuel out to catch light. For the first time, swathes of moorland in English National Parks have had to be closed to the public due to the wildfire risk and, in the past few weeks, fire and rescue services have been called to some 450 outbreaks in the UK.

‘The best possible way to tackle wildfire is through managing the vegetation. This is the available fuel,’ says Mark Cunliffe-Lister, MA chair. The MA recommendation is that vegetation be kept short beside walking routes, to have small areas of controlled heather burning, creating fire breaks, and for woody areas to be broken up, too. Heather burning is mostly banned as of last year due to COemissions (licences can be obtained from Defra in ‘very limited circumstances’), but the MA points to recent reports from universities and the GWCT, which show that, in the medium to long-term, burning can assist carbon capture and peatland protection. Another recent report has shown that a, equivalent to the annual emissions of a town of 4,000 inhabitants. ‘Not only do wildfires cause the release of huge amounts of carbon, but they create a knock-on effect where a burnt and bare moorland bog is not then absorbing and storing carbon like it should,’ explains lead author Paul Titterton of Moors for the Future Partnership.