preparing for wildfire in the uk
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given at the Wildfire 2011 conference in Buxton on 14 September 2011.TRANSCRIPT
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Preparing for Wildfire in the UK
Tarbet, Loch Nevis
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Simon Thorp
• Qualified Rural Chartered Surveyor• Chartered Environmentalist • Director of The Heather Trust
– since May 2002
• Vice-Chairman England & Wales Wildfire Forum
• Director Scotland’s Moorland Forum• Based in Dumfries
– Covers all UK and beyond
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• Introduction• Impressions from International Wildfire Conference• Questions
• What is the scale of the UK’s wildfire problem?• What should we be doing about it?• Can we learn lessons from other countries?
• Conclusions
The Plan
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Introduction
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The Heather Trust
• What is The Heather Trust?– A charity– Dedicated to moorland management
throughout the UK– A membership organisation
• What do we do?– Seek to integrate all management– provide an independent view– work for & with: private landowners,
farmers, agencies & NGOs– contribute to committees & consultations
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Current areas of activity
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Current areas of activity
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Current areas of activity
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Current areas of activity
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Current areas of activity
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Wildfire Interest
Source: Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project, NASA-GSFC, and ORBIMAGE, 18 April 2003
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South Africa
9 - 13 May 2011
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Wildfire Conference, South Africa, May
2011
• Chance to mix with international wildfire community
• Soak up other people’s ideas• Put UK issues in perspective• Bring some ideas back• Interesting timing
– Fires burning across UK
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Impressions 1
• Scale of global wildfire– 350-400m ha p.a. – size of India
• Effect of climate change– Increasing temperature fire activity➨– Link between temperature and rainfall– +10% precipitation = 1oC
• Spanish problem– Current area of wildfire 148,000 ha p.a.– Climate change model – medium scenario – Increasing to 1,526,000 ha by 2050– Exacerbated by weather events
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Impressions 2
• South Africa– Expenditure R306m– Forestry losses from wildfire R3.6 bn– Fire suppression target 368,000 ha p.a.
• Wildfire risk reduction– Prescribed burning an accepted policy– Fight fire with fire
• Flames do not need to be put out• Fire is a natural phenomenon
– Not a new problem– Going to see more of it
• Poor communities rely on open fires– Cooking, heating - more sources of ignition
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Impressions 3
• Australia Black Saturday – 7 Feb 2009– 450,000 ha burnt, 173 deaths, 2029 houses lost,
cost $Aus 4Bn
• Smoke pollution – Russia– July / August 2010– 55,800 people premature deaths
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Impressions 4
• International cooperation– Enormous amount of work in progress– Research– Development of techniques
• Better application of science– Fire danger rating systems– Better understanding of science– Modelling– Fire weather index
• UK a poor relation– A reluctant player– Great benefit to be had from improving links
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Fire Danger Rating Prediction
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Fire Danger Rating Table
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Questions
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What is the scale of the UK’s wildfire problem?
• Not on a par with other fire countries:– Mediterranean – USA, Canada– Africa– India
• But still significant– Not all about remote hillsides– Swinley Forest– Dorset Heaths– South Wales
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What should we be doing about it?
• More top down support– Wildfire can happen anywhere– Impact on critical infrastructure– Closure of M3 during the Olympics– Meeting with DCLG– Funding needed
• Better organisation on the ground– Fire Groups– Peak District Fire Operations Group– Northumberland FRS– Integration of landowners / managers– Decision Support System for Prescribed
Burning
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Can we learn lessons from other countries?
• Yes – wake up UK• Fire modelling and prediction• Fire management fire ➨
suppression – delicate balancing act– protection vs conservation
• Heather burning / muirburn / swaling– Risk reduction tool– Apply science
• Stop being precious about fire– Fuel load rises– Catastrophic risk increases
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Conclusions
• Wildfire can strike anywhere• Effect of climate change
– May 2011 could become a regular feature
• Need to plan and prepare– Wildfire is not an exceptional event– Expect it to happen– When the FRS is called is too late
• Improve level of FRS preparedness• Wildfire Forum & Fire Groups• It could happen here
– The Australian Black Saturday– Russian Smoke pollution
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