Military drills spark hundreds of wildfires in UK

Hundreds of wildfires have sparked across the UK countryside since 2023, with unexploded shells often making it too dangerous to investigate them. Firefighters fighting a massive moorland fire in North Yorkshire this month have been hampered by explosive bombs and tank shells dating back to wartime training on the moors. According to BBC reports, 385 of the 439 wildfires on Ministry of Defence (MoD) property between January 2023 and last month were caused by current-day army manoeuvres themselves. The MoD maintains it has a robust wildfire program that monitors risk levels and limits live ammunition use when necessary.

However, locals near the sites of recent fires told the BBC that the MoD needs to do more to prevent them from occurring, including completely banning live fire training in the driest months. Wildfires in the countryside can arise for many reasons, including abandoned cigarettes, unattended campfires, and deliberate arson, and the severity of them can be exacerbated by dry, hot weather, and a lack of vegetation on the property. However, according to information gathered by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, there have been 1,178 wildfires in total linked to present-day MoD training centers since 2020, with 101 out of 134 wildfire in the first six months of this year caused by military manoeuvres or preparations. So far this year, more than 80% of the fires caused by training have occurred in so-called Range Danger Zones - also known as "impact zones.

These are areas where the local fire service is usually not allowed entry and the fire is left to burn out on its own, despite being contained by firebreaks. Despite being the hottest time of the year, large amounts of smoke can cause road closures, disruption, and health issues for local residents. Wildfires on Salisbury Plain, according to one villager who lives near the MoD's training site, were a perennial problem, and the MoDe had to do more to prevent them from affecting live ordnance use outside of the hottest months. The fire from fires left to burn, according to Neil Lockhart, of Great Cheverell, near Devizes, Wiltshire, was a significant environmental issue and posed a threat to locals' health and safety.

It's the pollution.If you have asthma, and it's the summer and you've got to keep all your windows closed,

Mr Lockhart said. Tim Daw, an arable farmer who lives on Salisbury Plain, said he

shouldn't have seen three or four big fires this yearbut found the smoke only amild annoyance. Many locals were concerned about the effects of the wildfires on wildlife and the landscape, according to Mr. Brown, who likened the area affected by the fires often looked fairly horrific, and likening it to a burnt savannah. However, he said the MoD wasvery proactive" in retaining locals informed of wildfire dangers and any ongoing issues on their property.

Wartime "legacy"

Aside from the danger of live military training sparking fires, old unexploded ordnance left behind from previous manoeuvres makes wildfires more difficult to combat this month. Several bombs have detonated in areas that were once used for military training dating back to the Second World War. George Winn-Darley, a local landowner, said the peat fire had created an enormous cloud of smoke that could have been avoided if there had not been live ordnance on site.

If the unexploded ordnance had been cleared up and wasn't there,

he told the BBC,

this wildfire would have been dealt with, perhaps completely, almost two weeks ago. Mr Winn-Darley ordered that the MoD clear up any major munitions left on the moors.

That would seem to be the absolute minimum that they should be doing,he said.It's ridiculous that here we are, 80 years after the Second World War's end, and we're still dealing with this legacy. The fire at Langdale had not started on MoD property, according to a MoD spokesperson, but an Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team had responded on four occasions to calls for assistance from North Yorkshire Police.

Unexploded ordnance items from the Second World War II were discovered as a result of the wildfires, which the EOD operator announced that they did not use projectiles. They were retrieved for subsequent disposal,

he explained. The MoD monitors the risk of fires throughout its training program year, and it limits the use of ordnance, munitions, and explosives when training is ongoing during periods of high wildfire danger. To prevent the spread of fire, important areas are built around them, such as stone tracks, are incorporated. The MoD launched Respect the Range campaign earlier this month, aimed at raising the public's awareness of the risks of accessing military property, including live fire, unexploded ordnance, and wildfires. According to a spokeswoman for the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), the organization collaborated closely with the MoD to

understand the danger and locations of munitions and develop plans to effectively extinguish fires.

We always recommend military service members to account for the climate and the possibility of wildfire when determining when to do their exercises," she said.