With bushfires causing devastation this month to vast areas of Australia, Dartmoor Ranger Rob Steemson writes about contingency plans in place should a wild fire ignite on Dartmoor

AS in many regions of the world, wild fires in the countryside are projected to become more prevalent in the United Kingdom as temperatures rise and droughts become more frequent.

Experience in recent years of both small and large vegetation fires that have occurred across various parts of Britain have increasingly put extra pressure on the emergency services and those that care, work and look after this important landscape. However, and specifically on Dartmoor, for the last 25 years certain things have been put quietly into place within a local partnership. Over the last two years this partnership has widened its approach and during 2019 further good pragmatic progress has been made in drawing up a comprehensive Dartmoor wide ‘Wild Fire’ plan.

Action plan

The central and higher parts of Dartmoor National Park contain moorland which is called the ‘Forest of Dartmoor’. However, it is not a wooded forest but is Dartmoor’s largest piece of open common land, consisting of 11,000 hectares and covers some of the most inaccessible areas. It is surrounded by many other commons which are collectively known as the ‘home commons’. For many years the Forest of Dartmoor has been in various agreements with Natural England which aim to safeguard the environment, history and landscape of the area. The current agreement includes a local partnership-based wild fire action plan. One of the key practical ingredients has been the acquisition of quad based fire fogging units that the Commoners (commoners are farmers with rights to use Dartmoor predominantly for grazing their stock) use to help put moorland fires out with. There has also been a local facility arranged to call upon helicopter assistance.

This well-developed local partnership involves the Duchy of Cornwall as landowner (Duchy), the Forest of Dartmoor Commoners’ Association (FDCA), Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS), the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Natural England (NE) and the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA).

In 2017, after seeing large fires occur in the north of England, various owners of the ‘home commons’ were concerned about how their land might fit in to a Dartmoor-wide fire plan and asked for a meeting with particular agencies which included the Dartmoor Commoners Council (DaCC). The Dartmoor Fires Partnership was formed which has the aim to get an all embracing fire plan for all commons and access land with ongoing agency and individuals. It also supports work already in progress by DNPA and DSFRS that is presently determined within the current Forest of Dartmoor Fire Management Plan. These arrangements and partnerships are co-ordinated, facilitated and chaired by the DNPA.

For the last three years, some classroom-type training with Commoners has been arranged by DSFRS to explain who, what and how they operate on a wild fire call out. This has enabled approximately 80 Commoners annually to be formally called out to assist in the event of any wild fire incident overseen by the fire service.

Earlier in 2019, at one call out on the south moor, both fire fighters, Rangers and Commoners’ training was fully tested. Feedback from the incident highlighted the importance of having a consistent supply of clean water and the problems of attempting to draw water from Dartmoor streams. Soon afterwards, the Forest of Dartmoor Partnership became aware of the loss of any local helicopter provision and it was agreed to spend the saved funding on two new trailers to ferry water held in jerry cans to the fire fronts.

Training

At the end of November 2019, a practical wildfire awareness training day was organised by the Fires Partnership group and held at Pork Hill car park above Tavistock. This provided an excellent opportunity for landowners, Rangers and Commoners to meet with firefighters from the local stations. The fire service, via its incident command unit, were also able to demonstrate the required health and safety procedures and the specialised kit they have, whilst the recently purchased trailer units were also on show for the first time. Despite the cold wind, it was a successful day which enabled around 60 Commoners across the moor to be involved with any call out during 2020.

To try to better manage the fuel to reduce the risk, over the summer months the Forest of Dartmoor Partnership has been looking at creating strategically and tactically located fire/access breaks in the Molinia (purple moor grass) dominating vegetation across the moors. Cutting and grazing, along with burning, is often seen as a principal, or even sole way, in which land management can help reduce wildfire risk. However, this requires lots of clear communication and agreement so it is based very much on a long term vision and is an interesting project.

Over the last two years, the fire service has provided a contract for a retired and experienced fire officer to pull together a Devon and Somerset-wide wild fire contingency plan and he is a key partner within the Dartmoor Partnership. He reports that the Fire Service Driving School has been preparing courses for 4x4 driving, trailer courses and training in the use of the all-terrain vehicles that it proposes to introduce into the service.

Incident commander

Interpretation of the fuel (vegetation) in terms of potential fire behaviour is a key element to a successful outcome to manage fires that could become challenging if wildfire conditions occur. The overarching aim of the fire incident commander is to minimise the risk to responders/public and maximising the opportunities to reduce the impact of wildfire on our communities, local infrastructure and the environment. To assist the incident commanders in their decision making at a wildfire, we have recently sent two officers on a course to Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service to train as tactical advisors.

Ian Donovan, DSFRS Support officer said: ‘A colleague and I recently attended the England and Wales Wildfire Forum conference in Cardiff. At the venue we met with one of the speakers, professor Claire Belcher, from Exeter University. Claire is looking to work with the fire services and scientists to carry out research to better understand wildfire. We hope to take this opportunity to work with Claire and help with the research programme.’

For Commoners who were unable to attend the November training day, two other classroom-based evenings have been arranged for 2020, on January 29 at Tavistock Fire Station from 7pm to 9pm and on February 5 at Okehampton Fire station from 7pm to 9pm.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and the reassurance that if any wild fire occurs on Dartmoor during 2020 a well-trained partnership approach will work extremely hard to put it out quickly.