Ministers promise aircraft, better kit and wetter moors, while campaigners and MPs ask if the money matches the summer.
LONDON, England (Feisty UK) – Britain is a country that apologises to the weather, so it came as a shock when the weather stopped being polite. This was the hottest summer on record, and it left blackened heath, scorched moorland and a lot of tired firefighters. Now the government has set out a plan with some notable features, including military helicopters that will be taught to drop water on burning hillsides.
The summer that tested the countryside
The numbers explain the mood. LBC’s report on the announcement says fire crews in England and Wales dealt with 1,132 wildfires in the year up to mid August, more than the total for the whole of 2025. Dunwich Heath in Suffolk was among the worst hit, and at Stourbridge in the West Midlands 19 homes were destroyed. An emergency alert went to phones across England and Wales on 14 August warning of very high national wildfire risk.
It was not only an English story. Wales declared four major incidents over the summer, and big blazes were also reported in the Cairngorms in Scotland, the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland and the Rhinogydd in Wales. Wildfire, it turns out, does not stop at Offa’s Dyke or the Irish Sea. The same government page notes that this was the hottest summer on record for the UK, and that the Met Office found climate change made the extreme heat around 130 times more likely.
What the government is promising
The official government announcement lists the measures. In short:
- RAF Chinook helicopters and A400M aircraft will be equipped to fight fires on remote moorland and steep hillsides, with the Ministry of Defence developing a permanent aerial firefighting capability for the first time.
- Up to 45 million pounds for specialist wildfire teams and lighter, more breathable protective kit for firefighters in England.
- 25 million pounds to restore dried-out peatlands in England, with a new Natural England grant scheme expected to run from April 2027 to April 2029.
- Financial support for farmers to fireproof land in high-risk areas, such as by digging ponds.
- A new AI unit in the government’s crisis centre, better Met Office forecasts, England’s first Wildfire Action Plan, and a meeting with the devolved governments.
The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, said that firefighting heroes should not have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. The government will also consider tougher local restrictions or product bans to stop people starting fires when risk is high, which is the polite way of saying that the disposable barbecue is on notice.
Welcome, say campaigners, but not the whole answer
The National Trust was in the room and was broadly pleased. It welcomed the measures but pushed for more, noting that a petition with 147,811 signatures had been delivered to Downing Street three months after the fire that destroyed 104 hectares at Dunwich Heath. Its director-general, Hilary McGrady, said “bold, long-term plans are urgently needed from the Government.”
What the MPs asked before the summit
Parliament had been pressing the same buttons. When the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee took evidence in September, Farmers Weekly reported that MPs asked about a nationwide disposable barbecue ban, confusing emergency alerts in areas with poor mobile signal, and why only two of 24 applications to burn on deep peat had been approved. The Defra minister, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, replied that “A wetter moor is a better moor”, and officials said the National Risk Register, which currently labels wildfires a remote risk, would be reviewed before next year’s fire season.
That last detail is worth sitting with. Officials told MPs that wildfires are now seen as more likely than earthquakes, yet the register had them filed under remote. Few documents have aged as quickly as that one.
Sensible questions for any party to answer
Credit where it is due. A permanent military air capability, kit for crews and money to rewet peat are practical steps, and they reflect what firefighters and land managers have been asking for. Support for farmers to build ponds is also a very British idea: take a field, add a pond, and let the cow have a view.
The fair questions are about timing and scale. A peatland scheme that starts in April 2027 will do little for any fire that breaks out early next spring, when the moors can dry out. The 45 million pounds for crews is aimed at England, so the planned meeting with the devolved governments will matter for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where fires burned too. Whether you vote Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Reform, Green or nationalist, the test will be simple: when the next dry spell arrives, are there aircraft, trained crews and wet peat?
A smile from the London desk
If you need a lighter read after all that smoke, I contribute to The London Prat, and its comedy archive and London humor news pages are a good place to unwind, as is its English humor news hub. Bohiney Magazine at Bohiney keeps the jokes coming too, and you will find more of my British life and politics reporting at The London Prat.
For now, my advice is simple. If you are heading out for a walk on a dry autumn day, take your litter home, leave the barbecue in the shed, and leave the heath for the next generation exactly as green as you found it.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/