Praise for crews in moor fire battle
Natural England chief visits ravaged moorland
BLAZE: The chairman of Natural England has praised the efforts of fire crews who have been battling a blaze which has ravaged a Yorkshire nature reserve for the past fortnight.
Tony Juniper visited Hatfield Moor, in South Yorkshire, to witness firsthand the extent of the damage from the blaze and learn more of recovery plan.
THE CHAIRMAN of Natural England has praised the efforts of fire crews who have been battling a blaze which has ravaged a Yorkshire nature reserve for the past fortnight.
Tony Juniper visited Hatfield Moor in South Yorkshire to witness firsthand the extent of the damage from the blaze and learn more of the plans for a recovery operation.
With fire crews yesterday still working and areas of the moorland continuing to smoulder, Mr Juniper said he wanted to thank those who had worked tirelessly to bring the blaze under control, praising them for doing an “incredible job”. The fire, which broke out on May 17, has devastated large areas of the wildlife habitat which forms part of the Humberhead Peatlands, the UK’s largest lowland peatbog complex.
Mr Juniper said: “We have had record-breaking dry, sunny weather and this follows a period of record-breaking rainfall. We are seeing climate change projections turning into a reality.”
He stressed thoughts needed to turn to restoration and putting a plan in place for the area’s recovery.
He added: “It is a setback, but we have brought it back from where it was after years of extraction and we have to hope we can restore it again.
“The peat provides a massive carbon store which we need to protect and the reserve supports a unique range of animals, insects and plants.”
At the peak of the blaze, helicopters were used to dump large quantities of water on the area with fire crews from around the country drafted in to help.
Natural England secured funding in 2014 for the restoration of Humberhead Peatlands, which had been used for commercial peat extraction until 2003.
While the cause of the fire is not yet known, Mr Juniper said the recent hot and dry weather conditions will have contributed to the spread of the flames.
Mr Juniper said it had yet to be established how badly damaged the peat is, but he hoped the amount of water the soil accumulated through the wet winter may have offered some protection. He said looking at how to keep the area moist was going to be one of the key issues which needed to be considered.
He said: “It is particularly important as we have such big long-term climate challenges as a country, and nature reserves need to be resilient to these kind of events.”
He did say there had been one small piece of good news.
The fire had gone through the middle of the reserve and it appeared the nesting areas which are home to the endangered nightjar had escaped the flames. Mr Juniper also urged people to be especially vigilant when they were out in the countryside during hot and dry weather.