Preparing for Wildfire in the UK

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

The Plan• 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

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

Wildfire InterestSource: 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 DangerRating 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

Preparing for Wildfire in the UK

by The Heather Trust on Sep 20, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 9

Statistics

Preparing for Wildfire in the UK — Presentation Transcript