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Be Wildfire Aware .........

Madriverrob

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A useful reminder to us all , additional information and resources available online at the National Fire Chiefs Council or with your local Fire and Rescue Service ........

Wild Fire Aware Prevention  advice graphic.jpg
 
Have been watching emergency responses to wildfires in that scrub around the Mediterranean. With climate change this is going to become a growing threat to the temperate zone too.

I'm not sure whether your woodlands would carry fire between the larger types of trees, or whether the scrub ever dries out sufficiently but bush fires are a very immediate and destructive impact of climate extremes. It takes a whole different knowledge and understanding to manage fire at a landscape scale.

Alan.
 
It interesting that there have been a few homes burnt out by the wildfires here. In places some distance apart. London and Midlands. I cannot remember this happening in UK before. Certainly made a few wonder about the situation.
 
Have been watching emergency responses to wildfires in that scrub around the Mediterranean. With climate change this is going to become a growing threat to the temperate zone too.

I'm not sure whether your woodlands would carry fire between the larger types of trees, or whether the scrub ever dries out sufficiently but bush fires are a very immediate and destructive impact of climate extremes. It takes a whole different knowledge and understanding to manage fire at a landscape scale.

Alan.
Certainly coniferous woodland like the plantations of pine that cover large areas of the north of England and Scotland would burn like that. Once it makes the leap to the canopy then it’s hard to stop. There was an area just east of a town called Llandovery which isn’t too far away from here where the plantation burned during the first covid lockdown. That was blamed on “wild campers” it was only about 200 acres but it had been beautiful before it burned.
Quite a lot of UK woodland is going to need examining to make sure fire breaks are reinstated. When I was a kid the standard fire break usually consisted of a minimum of one tree length either side of any road or natural feature (essentially 2 tree lengths) like a stream. That standard is a thing of the past, seen as unnecessary and a waste of potential profit.
 
Hi folks!

Hope all are well. This weekend we had another fire come up the range to our north to threaten our district.

Some of you may recall that last month a fire got into my property and I had to back burn the lot to protect surrounding areas.

So although we weren't directly threatened by this latest fire we wanted to protect our wider district and so worked with neighbours on planning and implementing the response. The plan was to backburn out of some deep gullies in the range to pull up the fire. So Friday night me and this other bloke (who's the local GP, but about 15 years younger than me) volunteer to descend into the ravine and light it up. The ravines are so steep there's a rocky climb down at one end and a rocky climb up at the other and no exit in between. Probably about 200 feet deep and a kilometre distance along

Clambering down with only one free hand was fun ( the other carrying a full fire bug), and then when we reached the bottom of the ravine and started lighting fire, we had to set a brisk pace to stay ahead of the flames.

At the other end we had to scramble up again still clutching the fire bugs. The next day my leg muscles were so stiff!!! I'm an active bloke and reasonably fit, but somehow those climbs ( or maybe the pace of them) really worked muscles which I had forgotten I had. The young bloke with me was like a mountain goat and I struggled to keep up with him. But a roaring fire on your heels is a great motivator....

While we had done the lower deep ravine my wife had lit up another on her own higher up the range. When job was done we drove home for a drink and dinner and then returned for our turn at watching the fire from midnight.

The next morning The Boy and I went back to check and found that the backburn had successfully pulled up the fire. Better still, nobody had fallen off a cliff. Stiff muscles are a small price to pay.

Outcome: My wife now wants me to try yoga with her to avoid those stiff muscles in future. But no way. I've seen how ridiculous The Boy looks when he tries to do it with her!!! 🤣

If he can't pull off a 'downward dog', how could I?

Cheers

Alan
 
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Hi Alan :)

Well......here are we trying to put out fires in the U.K......... and you buggers are running around starting them 🤭:rofl:

Sounds like a risky operation trying to stay ahead of a fire in a deep ravine 🤔......could you not throw something into the ravine from the top to start the fire?
Or use a remote starter of some kind once you have climbed out safely.

Good to hear it worked out for you guys.....and that you achieved what was required from the burn :thumbsup:

Hope the muscles ease out out soon.......if you do have a crack at the yoga with your dear wife.......we need pictures of the event :rofl::rofl:
 
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