The England & Wales Wildfire Forum: Meeting in Wrexham


The England & Wales Wildfire Forum met in Wrexham today, and it was valuable that the Scottish Wildfire Forum was represented at the meeting by the chairman, Bruce Farquharson from Scottish Fire & Rescue Service. This helped to support my view that wildfire requires a UK-wide approach, and the developing interest from Northern Ireland in the work of both Forums is also very welcome.

We covered a lot of ground during the meeting, including the confirmation that the next UK wildfire conference will be held in South Wales in November 2019. The South Wales Fire & Rescue Service has agreed to host the conference and the theme will be based on management for wildfire. In an effort to reach a wider audience, consideration will be given to organising some local / regional events in advance to provide a connection to people who might not want to attend the conference.

We agreed that it is too early in this late spring to be turning our backs on wildfire for the year, as there is still plenty of time for wildfires to occur before the moorland vegetation ’greens up’, effectively reducing the chances of wildfire. To reinforce this point, I picked upon this press report about a ‘giant’ wildfire in Cornwall on the way home. It may have been a low-key wildfire season this year, but there has been a steady flow of incidents; there is never room for complacency.

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