Most of the UK has seen well-below average rainfall so far this month, this has led to dry dead vegetation left from the winter to be very combustible if set alight, with numerous wildfires across parts of the UK in recent days.
March has been exceptionally dry, of the 1991-2020 average rainfall for the whole month - Wales has only seen 15%, England 18% Scotland 36%.
Data from Starling Roost Weather
The dry and very sunny conditions so far this month have led to fires becoming more likely on open moorland and grassland, which have become tinder-dry. Fires have been burning in numerous locations across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Moors of SW England over recent days. But there have been fires on open land elsewhere across the UK too, with grass and heathland dry with plenty of dry and dead vegetation from the winter.
A wildfire broke out near Inverness today with six fire engines in attendance at the fire, located by the B861 road between Cuthduthel and Inverarnie. The road has been closed as a result, as firefighter continue to bring the fire under control. This follows a grassfire in the Kilpatrick Hills of West Dunbartonshire overlooking Glasgow on Thursday, which has now been extinguished. There was a ten-acre blaze in Lairg and Dornoch in the northern Highlands on Wednesday, fortunately fire crews put the fire out before it had 'devastating' consequences.
Today there is an extreme wildfire risk across lowland Scotland and the central Highlands on Friday.
Meanwhile, firefighters across Wales have been dealing with numerous wildfires. Crews were sent to a grass fire near Merthyr Tydfil yesterday, which had a fire front of around four to five Kilometres wide. In Powys, Wales, the fire service responded to a high number of calls relating to grass fires throughout the county yesterday, on the warmest day of the year so far. Around 50 hectares of bracken and trees had been burned in the Llanwrthwl area, between Rhayader and Newbridge-on-Wye, there were also fires elsewhere in the county, some of which were left to burn overnight and are being reinspected today.
In North Wales crews have been tackling three fires at Carrog near Corwen, at Talysarn near Mynydd Cilgwyn, and at Mynydd Llandygai Bethesda. While more than 20 firefighters, including a specialist wildfire unit, were also still tackling a large wildfire last night at Trefriw in Conwy county.
An amber wildfire warning for Northern Ireland has been issued with dry and windy conditions increasing the risk of a blaze. Appeals have been made to the public to be aware of potential dangers of littering, using disposable BBQs, and burning waste. It comes after a gorse fire in the Mourne Mountains earlier this week, with the fire service believing the blaze was started deliberately. On Monday over 60 firefighters and seven fire appliances were deployed to tackle the fire in Castlewellan.
Active fires across the UK (data from EFFIS)
All it takes is for careless disposal of cigarettes, unattended BBQs and open fires or campfires, fires not extinguished properly or sunlight magnified by discarded glass bottles or other glass, sparks from vehicles or other machinery to set alight dry vegetation to start these fires. Some are unfortunately deliberately started too.
Between March and May is when wildfires tend to be most frequent on grasslands, heathland, open moors in large parts of north and west - because of the drier weather and increase in human activity in the countryside following winter. At this time of year, in early spring, if it’s been dry for a prolonged period, there is typically a large volume of dead, bone-dry vegetation after winter across vast areas of the countryside before spring growth occurs. This dry vegetation can become fuel for any fire.
Fortunately it looks to turn unsettled over the weekend, with spells of rain or showers likely to affect most areas at some point, as the rainfall accumulation chart above shows. Not huge amounts for most, but it should dampen the ground and vegetation, hopefully putting out current fires and preventing new ones.
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