‘The fledglings couldn’t escape’: Dartmoor blaze raises questions about wildfire strategy | Dartmoor

The place where Washing fires It barely broke out that could be worse. Cut Hill is one of the maximum peaks and the highest peaks on Dartor, miles away from any road, a place of terrain that converts the ankle.

The hot weather weeks meant that Mulinia, Morland’s herb, was dry and farmers could remember it at this time of the year. Once it took, on Sunday, the fire broke out.

Trissi May said, Dartor sheep farmer. “It is very far there. It was one or more hour to get to the fire and when I got there, it was difficult to control.”

It may coordinate General years in Darmor The fire control team, and the local population working with the firefighting service to treat the Morland fires, using generations’ knowledge to direct professionals to high land and help them fight fire.

It took ordinary and firefighters Two days to put the fire Despite their best efforts, 500 hectares (1235 acres) of wildlife -rich swamps were burned in the largest fire on Dartor for about five years.

Orders describe the vision of birds that nest the earth, such as Skylaks, Red Grouse and Meadow, and flee their nests. May said: “The adult birds were escaped from that, but the tags were unable to escape,” May said. “It is a terrible time of the year to happen. I got all the lizards, mice, whatever there is. Everything is burning. Everything has gone. Destroyed.”

The fire focused on attention at the national level on the problem of increasing and locally forest fires on how to manage the swamp, which enhances the fears of many columns who restrict grazing systems designed to protect the ventricular quagmire means that Mulinia is very high and fire risks. “This should be the vigil call,” May said.

It was alerted to the fire on Sunday afternoon and called on the general public. About 80 are trained to fight fires alongside Devon Somerset fire and rescue service. May said: “The public falls everything and go.”

The general public uses “jamming units”, a pressure washing machine equipped with tissues to produce a good spray that can penetrate the vegetation. One of them leads the four -bike, another works in Lance and the third is a fire, while ensuring that there is no scene.

This fire was especially fierce due to the “fuel load” scale – the amount of combustible materials – on the swamp. “What stops the fire is when it strikes an area that was tightly granted,” May said. “There was nothing at all to stop it.”

Reducing fire to cut Hill was vital. “If he goes north, he may have reached the long way [a village on the edge of the moor more than 5 miles away]. For years I have been saying: Not if we got a very big fire, it is when. We’ll get one that we will not stop. “

The ordinary Neil Cole, who stopped lamb to fight the fire, said he was one of the most participating in it. “It was a very hard work.”

Cole has no time to restore widely to areas such as Dartor, arguing that this scene may be managed by humans for centuries. “You must be grazed by sheep, livestock and dowries. Otherwise, the vegetation becomes very thick and gets this type of fire. There must be a rethinking rethink.”

In addition to hurting swamp plants and animals, there are concerns about that Created land restoration project In the region, it may have been at risk, and the sites could have been damaged before date. Last year, archaeologists Drilling CIST in the early bronze era, or burial room, at Cut Hill.

Richard Dressel, Director of Conservation and Communities in Dartor National Park AuthorityRangers, who also worked with the general public and firefighters to treat the fire, said they were unable to assess the damage because military fire exercises occur there this week.

But he said that birds such as Dunlin, Lapwing, SkyLark and Cuckoo have been affected, as well as slows, slow, lizards and beetles. “It is a little from the ship of Noah.” The types that disappeared from other parts of the southwest England It was found on the swamp.

The cause of Darmor fire is not yet known. There were land camps on the swamp when that happened, but there was no evidence for officials. However, the garden authority urges people not to light the camps or barbecue parties. The army is not suspected because he was not shooting at that time and the two columns insist that no one “wander” – deliberately burns the quagmire to improve grazing areas.

Forest fires are not just the case of Dartor. According to National Council for FirefightersAs of May 8, fire and rescue services in England and Wales have responded to 463 sharp fires since January 1. Compared with 49 of 2024, 69 of 2023 and 253 in 2022

In Devon, and Land Using Group Dartor It works through recommendations from a major review published in December 2023 How should the swamp be managed.

Dracedl said it was important to find the correct type of grazing system. “These massive fires really highlight the importance of a suitable level of grazing in the right place.”