Heroic Shropshire firefighters help save nearly 100 homes from wildfire in Wales

Brave Shropshire firefighters helped save nearly 100 homes from being ravaged by a wildfire in South Wales as part of a special deployment.

In a video shared on social media, crews from Telford’s Tweedale Fire Station Telford were seen assisting their Welsh counterparts as part of a special national operation known as the National Resilience Deployment.

A spokesperson for the fire station said that Shropshire crews were due to stand down on Monday (August 24), but were called back into action to tackle “a significant” blaze that stretched nearly two miles.

At the time of their re-mobilisation, the Shropshire firefighters possessed the only 4x4 firefighting vehicle then available in the whole of South Wales.

After reaching the scene of the wildfire, the Tweedale crews began to get to work and attacked the blaze to extinguish a reported 800 metres of the firefront.

However, the firefighters had to deal with a tough situation when their incident support unit eventually ran out of water, meaning it needed to be replenished.

During the last week, the wildfire “breached the rear of the containment line”.

An increase to the wind direction and speed led to the fire intensifying and spreading.

Shropshire crews were then deployed to safeguard 89 homes that were then at risk of being destroyed by the spreading fire - the properties were “evacuated as a precaution”.

The Tweedale Fire Station spokesperson said: “The terrain meant that the standard South Wales firefighting appliances were unable to access the area.

“However, our 4x4 firefighting vehicle was able to reach the location, allowing our crews to get much closer to the advancing fire and begin an aggressive attack before it reached the properties.”

Crews from the National Resilience burns team then arrived to assist the Shropshire crews “to carry out controlled burning operations.”

These controlled burns removed fuel for the wildfire leading to an “effective” containment line being established, the spokesperson said.

They added: “Thankfully, the operation was extremely successful, and all 89 homes were protected from the rapidly advancing fire.”

However, despite saving the 89 homes from destruction, the Shropshire crews still had more work to do.

The blaze “had breached further containment lines” elsewhere at the location, and crews had to work to set up yet another fire break.

The Shropshire crews continued to work hard to contain the wildfire until they were eventually able to stand down when the blaze “could be safely accessed and managed by pumping appliances”.

Shropshire crews returned to the county on Tuesday (August 25), the Tweedale fire station spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “A huge well done to every firefighter who has been involved over the deployment.

“The conditions, terrain, heat and rapidly changing fire behaviour made this an incredibly challenging operation, but the professionalism, determination and teamwork shown throughout has been outstanding.”