Fighting fire with fire to put out moor blazes

A team of Lancashire firefighters have been using specialist burning techniques to stop moor fires spreading.

They are one of five teams around the country set up earlier this year over concerns about increased blazes due to climate change.

They target-burn a strip of vegetation to create a firebreak, and have recently been deployed to help deal with the fires on moorland in Tintwistle.

Some of the team have travelled to Poland and South Africa to learn from international counterparts..

The teams are getting new equipment and vehicles from a £10m funding pot which is part of nearly £100m being invested to deal with the growing risk of wildfires due to hotter and drier conditions.

Fire services in England tackled nearly 27,000 grassland, woodland and crop fires in the spring and summer last year.

Each specialist team is made up of about a dozen firefighters, with Lancashire's based at Bacup Fire Station.

It can be called out to help anywhere in the country.

Crew manager Dean Barlow, said: "We fight fire with fire so we use fire with our drip torches, which have got diesel and petrol in.

"We put that out on the ground. So basically if the fire was to run, we'd burn an area, it'd hit that area and it'd put the fire out because there's no more fuel left.

"We control that fuel by using brush cutters. We have different equipment that we can use to control the fire."

Jon Charters, chief fire officer of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "We are incredibly proud of the work taking place across Lancashire to tackle wildfires, and Bacup is a great example of that.

"The team has developed into a highly skilled and capable wildfire asset that will now support communities not just locally, but across the UK.

"We will continue to work innovatively, building on our experience and partnerships, to make our communities safer and strengthen our response to emerging risks."

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