Wales wildfire crews stretched and at risk, union warns

Firefighters in Wales have described being stretched to the limit during this summer's wildfires, while the Fire Brigades Union warned that a lack of resources put both crews and the public at real risk. Their accounts came as First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth held a climate change and resilience summit in Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday with fire services, police, local government, farmers and climate organisations.

Sean Cayford, a firefighter in Bridgend, said crews were told in mid-August that no pumps or fire appliances were available across the brigade's entire region. He said the same message was heard again later in the wildfire season. On one day, while attending an incident on Tredegar mountain, he could see six or seven other category three wildfires — the most serious type — on the horizon in every direction.

Cayford said help from other brigades across the UK was not enough, and crews remained short-staffed. He said long shifts at wildfire incidents, sometimes lasting eight, 10 or 12 hours, made some degree of injury difficult to avoid. Colleagues suffered lower limb injuries and heat illness, and many were still unable to work, he added.

Gemma Thomas, who works in a control centre, said call volumes usually average 200 to 300 but reached almost 2,000 on the busiest day this summer. She described the pressure as relentless and said there were times when staff could not fulfil requests from incidents. Thomas said the work was stressful and mentally draining, and that breaks were sometimes organised one person at a time for 10 minutes. She praised management support but said staffing levels could not be sustained long-term and called for more firefighters.

Gareth Tovey, an executive council member for Wales, said preparation had been poor. Specialist crews, including water teams, were redirected to wildfires, and at some stages there was no crew backup for large parts of south Wales, he said. He added that firefighters were injured because they lacked the right kit for wildfires. The FBU said Wales has a shortfall of 400 firefighters, and Tovey warned of a real risk to the public without immediate action. He said bringing in the Army was not a simple solution because soldiers do not have the needed firefighting skills.

An FBU survey after the fires found that 69% of firefighters felt significantly under-equipped, while 8% felt fully equipped. Nearly half said welfare facilities during wildfire deployment were insufficient.

At the summit, ap Iorwerth said Wales was resilient and needed to take preventative steps and have the capacity to respond to wildfires. He declined to confirm more funding, saying there were very real financial challenges. The Welsh government said individual fire and rescue authorities decide how many firefighters they need and set budgets accordingly, and should take this summer's wildfires into account.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service was applying to the Welsh government's emergency assistance scheme to cover extra costs, expected to exceed £500,000, though the full financial impact was still being assessed. At one point firefighters in north Wales managed six wildfires at once, more than ever before.

A UK Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report said the wildfires exposed weaknesses in UK resilience and preparation and called for a UK government-funded national wildfire prevention campaign, with wildfire risk indicators in weather forecasts.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service praised the professionalism, resilience and commitment of firefighters, control staff and others who supported the response. Craig Flannery, chief fire officer for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said climate-related emergencies have a real impact on communities, the environment and public services and require collective action. Natural Resources Wales said the impacts went beyond visible scars, citing destroyed habitats, depleted carbon stores and damaged soils that will take years to recover.

Source: BBC Science.