Hatfield Moors nature reserve disaster

[DerekC]

Our local (5 mins) drive nature reserve is on fire. Hatfield Moors is the largest area of lowland peat bog in the UK. Peat was extracted until around 2001. It is now managed by Natural England. It is home to a good variaty of wildlife wild fowl and many other bird species to Roe deer. Watch out for the adders alot released a few years ago.
Last Sunday 17th May a fire started, source not yet confirmed but it is thought to be a barbeque. As it this morning it is still on fire and fire service say they will be there for many more days. The fire is spreading in the dry peat and poping up in new places.
Many acres of wildlife habitat has been destroyed and ground nesting birds lost.
It is one of our favorite places to walk being close helps, as you can see something nes all the time
I have not been but took these photos of the helicopter they have been using to drop water on the fires.

[ronidog]

Thats aweful. I hope they can get it under control soon. I was gutted when Ilkley moor was devastated a few years ago.

[Imageryone]

So sad!! and the effect will carry on for years yet. What crazy impulse causes idiots to start fires in places of Natural Beauty?

[Otto]

Idiots who use disposable barbecues on open moorland which is currently tinder dry. My next door neighbour has found a few used ones on her walks around here despite warnings from the National Park Authority to the public.

[Dewi9]

Not idiocy, just laziness and ignorance. They fancied a BBQ then left it 'to go out on its own, it'll be alright'. But it didn't. Never mind, they had their nice day out and were home again when they heard what happened, probably wondered 'who would do a thing like that ?'

[Bikie John]

Same happened in Wareham forest down this way a few days ago. Apparently investigators found 11 discarded disposable barbecues n the area - and the area is not even open to the public!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-52755104

I hope the crews in Yorkshire get it under control. In Dorset it was mostly put out but some pockets were left smouldering, news this morning is that the strong winds overnight caused a new flare-up.

John

[Otto]

Thankfully here in Wensleydale at least it's chucking it down with rain at last so we shouldn't et any fires now for a while. Hopefully Hatfield Moor will be having heavy rain too. The weather is also keeping the bikers away, last weekend there were scores of them and their social distancing seemed to be no more than a foot or so .

[ronidog]

What is rain? We have not had anything significant for about 3 months.

[Otto]

Neither had we until last night and this morning!

[buddha01]

Also in the Netherlands we had some nature fires already. They were relative close, respectively 37 kilometers to National park Grote Peel (this is one of the big peat parks in NL) and 72 kilometers to National park de meinweg, which is a sand ground forest that was created to supply timber for the mining industry in the past.In Netherlands they used the CH-47F Chinooks with 10,000 liter capicity bambi buckets on both locations. Judging from the photos of the UH-1H/Bell 205A-1 "Huey" it is carrying the 2,500 liter Bambi bucket variant. Meant a 4 times round trip to take in water, while the chinook only need to take in water 1 time with it's 10,000 liter bucket.
I prefer the chinook all day for firefighting duties.

[rsh1960]

We had the same problem last year and earlier this year on Winter hill, last year it was about 5 weeks to get it under control disposable BBQ

[Melaka]

One reason these moors burn so badly is that they are not rotationally burnt as a grouse moor is. Regular cool burning cuts the fuel load and makes wildfires less likely or less damaging. Fire can be a disaster but is also a good management tool when properly controlled.

[ronidog]

I would disagree with you - dry moorland are created by grouse management and therefore they are more susceptible to drying out.. The problem with wildfires is the peat itself is so dry and therefore fire can spread under the surface. In places were the ditches have been filled in and the moors rewtted the efect of wildfire is much lower.

[DerekC]

Helicopter working again today. Wind still blowing hard. About 5 minutes of rain in total. Latest is they are digging trenches as fire breaks and expect to be there most of next week.
The comment on rotational burning, It is OK on that type of moorland as it is mostly Heather which is burmt off in rotation. These moors do have heather but also a lot of woodland, grasses and ferns. This providrs good cover for ground nesting birds, a habitat which is being distroyed. It can be very wet and sometimes boggy autumn/winter but in the summer the old working drain and dry out.

The other really sad thing is the fire is very close or has already got to a war memorial. The moors is next to the former RAF Lindholme, now HMP Lindholme, A halifax crash whilst attempting to land at Lindholme. .

[Jim Ford]

A few years ago I was talking to an ex fireman who was managing a campsite in the Caingorms, and he said that water on dry peat is mostly ineffective, as it just runs off. Peat fires can smoulder and travel underground for weeks. The surest way to stop a peat fire is to dig it out.
Jim

[Melaka]

I would disagree with you - dry moorland are created by grouse management and therefore they are more susceptible to drying out.. The problem with wildfires is the peat itself is so dry and therefore fire can spread under the surface. In places were the ditches have been filled in and the moors rewetted the effect of wildfire is much lower.

It was government policy in the 1960s and 1970s to drain moorland and subsidies were provided for the purpose. The aim was to increase agricultural productivity, not to improve grouse shooting. That policy has long been discredited. Moorland owners, especially those with grouse, have been blocking the drains (grips as they're called) with the aim of rewetting the moors. It is incorrect to say grouse management aims to create dry moorland. Management of moors for grouse shooting improves the habitat for other bird species. In North Wales, where grouse moors are no longer managed, the populations of other species have declined.