'Be vigilant' - Firefighters braced for continued wildfires amid dry spells and issue important advice to Shropshire residents
Shropshire's fire service is braced to tackle wildfires in the region as they continue to be prevalent amid hot and dry weather.
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Residents are being warned to avoid using disposable barbeques, burning garden waste, and to have a firefighting medium at the ready in case of a fire.
The Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service's Wildfire Tactical Advisor, Craig Jackson said the county's fire brigade has attended 24 fires in the open in the past week alone - at the time of writing (May 14).
The fire service has seen a spate of open fires throughout March, April and May so far - where the weather has been mostly dry and warm. Their incident log has been littered with incidents involving fires in the open across the county - large and small - in places such as Shropshire's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
On Tuesday (May 8), crews were called to the Long Mynd to deal with an open fire that was caused by a disposable barbeque.
Furthermore, just in the past week, firefighters have been called to an open fire in Oswestry involving a shed and hedging, to a fire involving land underneath decking in Telford, another involving grass and undergrowth in Shrewsbury, to control bonfires, and to fires in woodland areas.
Meanwhile, in April, six fire crews tackled a large blaze involving grass and gorse off Bromlow near Worthen, before three days later, crews responded an open fire in Upper Farmcote in Claverley near Bridgnorth.
Several fire crews then battled a fire involving 2.5 hectares of pine trees, brash and gorse at Birchen Park near Cleobury Mortimer. Specialist incident command and support units were mobilised to the scene, and crews from Ludlow, Cleobury Mortimer and Telford tackled the blaze for more than three hours.
With temperatures expected to remain around and above 20 degrees Celsius throughout the remainder of this week and into next, the fire service has asked residents to be vigilant.
"It is likely that we will see an increase in fires because of the weather because it is so warm and dry," Mr Jackson said.
"The rain we have had hasn't been enough to soak in to the ground, and the winds that we have coming from the easterly or southernly direction dries out your 'fine fuels' that are things such as grass, branches, gorse and bushes, and this then becomes really easy to ignite.
"We have been to 24 fires in the open in the last week alone. There has been an increase in fires across the UK.
"We really are asking people to avoid using disposable barbeques, especially in the open countryside, in parks and moorlands.
"When you look at some of our fire risk areas like the Long Mynd and Carding Mill Valley, we are asking people not to take disposable barbeques into those places.
"It is the same with smoking materials as well, grass is really dry and easy to ignite at the moment, don't discard cigarettes or matches, and even glass bottles through refraction can cause fires as well.
"They are resource intensive, especially if we have a large fire on a hillside, and it is not just hillside's anymore, open fires can take place on housing estates. A lot of estates now back onto fields and woodland. So if you are having barbeques in the nice weather, make sure that it is away from any fencing or sheds or if you use coal that it is put out correctly.
"Have some sort of fire fighting medium close by, that might be a garden hose or buckets of water to ensure that you could extinguish a fire quickly. Importantly, call 999 if there is a significant fire and you need help and support."
Smokers are being advised to stub out their cigarette and to not throw it onto grass or dispose of it into a bin that contains flammable substances.
Meanwhile, the fire service recommends taking garden waste to a recycling centre. But, if this is not possible and if anyone is to burn garden waste, then residents are being told to inform neighbours of the activity, call and inform the fire service, never leave the fire unattended, and have a bucket of water close by.
In its Community Risk Management Plan, the fire service outlined: "During hot weather multiple fires in the open happening at the same time reduces our capacity to respond to other emergencies."
Mr Jackson added: "I'm no expert on climate change, but we are seeing a longer season, not only through wildfires but also flooding.
"Within the first couple of months of the year, we had a significant increase, we have seen a 400 per cent increase in wildfires compared to last year.
"It does differ every year but we have started this one very dry and that spell ahs continued along with the strong winds that dries out the fine fuels.
"As we move into May and June we are getting the warmer weather which again dries out the vegetation.
"We do monitor our calls and monitor the risks. We work closely with the local authority and the Met Office. We utilise data to put out warnings.
"We also ask that any suspicious behaviour or activity, if you see someone starting fires deliberately, then report it straight away to the police through the Crimestoppers number."
The Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service's Community Risk Management Plan can be read here.
Advice on open fires and wood-burning stoves can be read here.
