Burnham to unveil AI wildfire unit after UK's hottest summer on record

Andy Burnham will announce plans for a new wildfire AI unit at the UK government's first wildfire resilience summit on Friday, after a record-breaking summer of devastating blazes across the country.

The unit will sit in the National Situation Centre, which is part of the Cobra briefing rooms. The government said it would allow crews to "spot and fight fires faster". Businesses including Google, Airbus and VodafoneThree are expected at the summit to set out how satellite monitoring and early warning systems can help.

This year was the UK's hottest summer on record, with prolonged dry periods and extreme heat fuelling wildfires that triggered an emergency alert to mobile phones in England and Wales. Figures released on 8 October showed a clear upward trend in the number of fires recorded each year. The Met Office found the climate crisis made the extreme heat about 130 times more likely.

Firefighters lacked protective kit

The prime minister will also announce £45m for fire crews to buy wildfire-specific personal protective equipment. The Guardian has reported that more than half of the 29 fire services that responded to information requests had no wildfire PPE. They included Suffolk fire and rescue service, which tackled an "apocalyptic" wildfire that burned close to the Sizewell B nuclear power station and destroyed large areas of a protected nature reserve.

Standard particle-filtering respirators do not protect against dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide, which are heavily present in wildfire smoke. Standard kit can also be too hot and heavy for wildfire conditions, causing crews to overheat or remove their equipment, exposing them to greater danger from heat, smoke and radiation.

Military planes and helicopters will also be made available to fight fires on remote moorland, steep hillsides and other hard-to-reach terrain. The defence secretary, Wes Streeting, said defence would "step up to provide greater support to our emergency services" as the threat grows.

Peatlands, farmers and restrictions

The government will examine tougher local restrictions or product bans to stop people starting fires when risk is high. In August, Burnham announced a temporary ban on sales of disposable barbecues, and he has been criticised for failing to address the climate emergency in his wildfire response.

Farmers will receive funding to make landscapes more resilient to fire, after the government quietly scrapped plans announced under the Conservative government to prepare the English countryside for wildfires. Alistair Carmichael, chair of the Commons environment, food and rural affairs committee, said this raised "serious questions about whether this summer's wildfires could have looked different with more resources on the ground".

A further £25m will restore dried-out peatlands in England so they hold more water and act as natural firebreaks. The new grant scheme is expected to run from April 2027 to April 2029.

Source: The Guardian World.