Moorland Fires

Greater Manchester is a conurbation covering forty two square miles. On its eastern and northern edges it meets up with hills, much of which are  covered with sheep farms and moorland, which is preserved as grouse moor or peat bog. The general use is recreation and it is a place popular with walkers. I live in the low-lying west of the conurbation, so I am completely untouched by the fires and am in no danger. But in the east, on the bleak  Saddleworth Moor,which is pictured below,  two thousand acres have been burning, or rather have been burnt, while the edge of the fire moves on.I know the area, as I spent many years working in the east of the conurbation, and areas that I know have been affected by smoke.In places close to the fire the police have evacuated some roads, and other residents advised to keep their windows closed for fear of smoke. But winds have taken smoke to as far away as twenty five  miles from the blaze

Seventy five fire fighters have been deployed from the fire service, one of the UK's woefully neglected public services, deprived of adequate tax funds like all other services so we can keep our bloated rich in a style that they don't deserve. The army have been brought in as reinforcements for the beleaguered fire services  to help out with their all-terrain vehicles. Water supplies have been moved into place, as despite their over-stretching, our fire service is thoroughly competent [more so than are the incompetent rabble of  what passes as a government.] The Salvation Army are doing a great job of keeping the firefighters, who are working in shifts, fed and watered.

The fire consists of four separate blazes, and it has consumed so far two thousand acres [over three square miles] and is still burning.The area affected is valuable land,not the desolation that some think a moorland to be. The peat bogs are preserved for three main reasons. Firstly, they are a valuable carbon store in which much CO2 is locked-up, so the blaze is not helping the nation's campaign against global warming. Secondly the peat bogs are a great sponge for rainfall, without which floodwater would run off the hills and flood the cities on the sides of the hills [the Pennines.] So destroying peat weakens our flood prevention strategy. Thirdly, the area is a site of special scientific interest where there are animals and plants of interest to scientists. Damage to them is ecologically harmful to species that we want to protect. How much more land will be damaged I know not. 

Peat does not ignite spontaneously, especially not in its default state of wetness, so it only burns when it is dry. Britain has been suffering/enjoying [depending on your view] a sustained heatwave in which  temperatures have soared. This may be connected with general trends in a warming climate, where the north of Britain suffers hot summers, but stormier winters; and this has been a hot summer! The result is that the peat is tinder-dry. A discarded cigarette, a spark from a camp fire or from an inefficient engine would be sufficient to set the fire off. I discount lightning as in Britain it usually occurs with heavy rainfall,  which quenches the flames. 

Moorland fires can be flash fires, which burn off the tops of dry heather and other moorland plants, often  burning so quickly that insects survive; but when the peat burns you get a problem, for the fire can simmer under the surface,moving inexorably along without people noticing, to spring up elsewhere later on when you think it is quenched. This is what has been happening on Saddleworth Moor, where firefighters are finding that flames spring up in unexpected places, even where they have previously been previously extinguished. The best hope for firefighters dealing with a blaze like this is  a heavy rain storm, but rain is not due until weekend, in three days' time. In the meantime we must keep the fire away from the residential areas in the towns, but there are sheep  farms that need defending and that is going to be difficult. So far no one has been killed or injured, and the damage has been to animal life and property.

Moorland fires are not a new phenomenon, for they have a long history, even the Bronte sisters who dwelt on the moors at Hawsworth, encountered one. Fire is a natural part of the cycle of life on the moor, and it serves to burn off dead heather and provide scope for new shoots, but it is moderated by England's normally rainy climate. But as summers become hotter and drier there is a danger that moorland fires will become harder to control and more damaging. Gamekeepers have in the past and even in the present practised controlled burning of patches so as to provide variety of heather,as the new growth provides food for grouse. The grouse are bred for shooting and are maintained by gamekeepers. There is no evidence that controlled burning started these fires, and indeed no sane, self-respecting and competent gamekeeper or farmer would set off fires in the weather conditions that Britain is now experiencing. 

While fire is an ancient phenomenon, on valuable land it damages important projects. We cannot prevent it, all we can do is minimize its occurrence and put it out as soon as possible.