‘Extreme’ wildfire risk issued for Northern Ireland

By Eric Williams (PA)

Warnings of an “extreme” wildfire risk have been issued for parts of the UK following a series of blazes in recent days.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for fire severity across parts of England, southern Scotland and Northern Ireland, while the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said there is a “very high to extreme risk” of wildfires.

It comes after England saw its sunniest March on record and its sixth driest March since records began in 1836, according to the Met Office.

Last month was also Wales’s second sunniest March on record and its fourth driest since 1836.

Garry Douglas, group commander from the SFRS, said: “There is a very high to extreme risk of wildfire from Wednesday 2 April until Monday 7 April and we are urging the public to avoid lighting fires outdoors across all areas of Scotland during this period.

“During any period of heightened risk, fires can ignite easily, spread very quickly and burn with high intensity.”

Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said the risk is due to “dry weather which has been ongoing for a while now”.

“We have got dry, warm weather with some fairly strong winds. High pressure is dominating our weather at the moment, which is caused by the heat that we have been seeing,” she said.

“Early in the winter we also had a very wet period which produced a lot of plant growth.

“This exacerbates the risk with fuel for the fire.”

Firefighters tackled blazes in the Kilpatrick Hills near Glasgow on Tuesday.

The Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service also said it has responded to more than 40 incidents since Monday in areas spread across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys and Swansea, including one case affecting some 50 hectares of land in Llanllwni, Carmarthenshire.

The service said it received an “exceptionally high” number of calls relating to grass fires on Tuesday.

London Fire Brigade urged people in the capital to take precautions against wildfires, as forecasts project temperatures hotter than Barcelona and Athens this week, peaking at 21C on Friday.

Assistant Commissioner Paul McCourt said: “As the weather warms up and we head towards Friday and the weekend, we would urge Londoners not to have barbecues in open spaces or on balconies, including disposable barbecues, to throw rubbish away, and to dispose of cigarettes carefully to avoid inadvertently starting a fire.”

The last time London was hit by wildfires was in the 2022 heatwave, when UK temperatures soared above 40C for the first time.

Warnings of an “extreme” wildfire risk have been issued for parts of the UK following a series of blazes in recent days (Victoria Jones/PA