SUMMER OF 1,500 FIRES
SHOCKING FIGURES LAY BARE THIS YEAR’S MASSIVE RISE IN GRASS FIRES ACROSS SOUTH WALES
FIRE crews in South Wales dealt with more than 1,000 reports of grass fires in just one month this summer.
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service received 1,069 calls to incidents involving grass fires across the 10 local authority areas it covers during July this year with an unprecedented prolonged period of warm weather.
At the latest South Wales Fire and Rescue Authority meeting, it was revealed that the number of grass fires attended in South Wales from May to July increased from 385 in 2017 to 1,549 in 2018, a rise of more than 300%.
Over a quarter of all grass fires attended during the summer of 2018 were attended in Rhondda Cynon Taf (393) while there were 291 (18%) in Caerphilly, with the third highest numbers being the 174 (11%) in Cardiff.
The area which saw the greatest percentage increase in grass fires during the summer period compared to the same time last year was Torfaen, where the number of grass fires rose by 633% from nine in 2017 to 66 during the same period in 2018.
The number of grass fires attended in Caerphilly during the period rose by 561% from 44 in 2017 to 291 in 2018 and the number attended in Merthyr Tydfil during the period rose by 408% from 24 in 2017 to 122 in 2018.
Andrew Thomas, the assistant chief fire officer, paid testament to the firefighters who dealt with the fires and also praised the joint fire control team who took in excess of 30,000 calls from May to July.
He said the service is looking to work with land owners and land managers and have programmes running in schools and colleges to help with early intervention and prevention of grass fires.
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s chief fire officer, Huw Jakeway said that the figures reveal how challenging this summer has proved to be.
He said: “Despite heightened activity on 999 call handling and incident management due to extreme weather conditions, our firefighters and joint control staff faced this challenge, over many weeks, with the highest standard of professionalism.
“I am proud of the hard work and commitment they have all demonstrated while continuing to keep our communities safe.
“While the financial cost of tackling such a situation is evident, it is important that we also consider the wider impact and cost to our communities.
“The cost attributed to the destruction of land, the tragic loss of wildlife we have witnessed and the subsequent impact on local eco systems, is not so easy for us to estimate. What is clear is that the impact has been devastating.
“The tactics employed by our specialist wilfire teams and wildfire officers and the use of burn teams and specialist all-terrain vehicles has allowed us to deal with the large number of wildfires effectively.
“However, while our crews are committed to dealing with these unnecessary incidents they are unavailable to attend other types of incidents such as house fires or RTCs (road traffic collisions) and therefore appliances from other locations are having to be mobilised.
“Deliberate fire setting is a crime. The impact is dramatic and lives can be put at risk. We all share a responsibility to report incidents of deliberate fire setting.
“Working together we can continue to protect our communities and make South Wales safer.”