Last year heatwaves saw a thousand fires break out, while, this year has already been hundreds of grass fires and one of the UK’s largest ever has been burning in the Scottish Highlands for the past two weeks.
Climate change raises the risk level of wildfires in the UK this summer, consequently, the country is going to set up new Mediterranean-style specialist units and firefighters will expand the number of specialist teams trained in “burn suppression” techniques.
At the moment, just five UK units across more than 50 fire and rescue services specialize in the “fighting fire with fire” technique. However, Chief Fire Officer Paul Hedley, wildfire lead for the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), said further units, which include those in services that straddle urban and rural areas, would be trained in new methods of wildfire fighting.
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