Busy weekend for fires in the open for Norfolk crews

Firefighters across Norfolk had a busy weekend responding to an increased number of fires in the open, many of them caused accidentally and destroying grassland and forest areas.

Since the Amber heat health warning of high temperatures came in on Friday lunchtime, Norfolk's crews have attended 32 'fires in the open'. These are fires affecting grass, heathland or woodland areas.

During the same weekend last year, when the weather was cooler, crews attended 13 fires in the open.

Residents and visitors to Norfolk are being urged to take extra care to help reduce the risk of accidental fires, which if not tackled quickly risk spreading and becoming wildfires.

NFRS's Head of Operations, Paul Seaman, said: "Over the weekend, we saw increasing numbers of avoidable fires in the open across Norfolk. Our crews responded quickly to contain them, but the risk of wildfires is currently very high due to the hot, dry ongoing weather. The cause of some of these fires were out of control bonfires, barbecues and bin fires caused by carelessly discarding cigarettes and barbecues.

"While the hot weather continues, we would ask residents and visitors to Norfolk to take extra care, not use disposable barbecues and take a picnic instead. Please don't have bonfires, as these can quickly get out of control and please discard of smoking materials safely and take litter home with you.

"If our crews are busy attending these fires in the open, it means they are not available for fires and other life-threatening emergencies elsewhere. We are grateful to both our wholetime and on-call crews for effectively dealing with this weekend's incidents and ensuring the safety of our county."

Locations of the fires are right across the county, from Thetford to Kelling and from Gorleston to King's Lynn. One of the fires this morning was caused by a disposable barbecue and several others have been caused by bonfires which were lit intentionally but got out of control.

Crews attended ten fires in the open on Friday in locations including Gorleston (bin fire), Warham (bonfire), Hardingham (field fire), Norwich and South Acre. On Saturday they attended 13 fires in the open including in Thetford (forest), Norwich, West Winch and Great Yarmouth. There were six further fires in the open on Sunday and another three on Monday morning.

With the Amber heat warning now extended until 9am on Wednesday morning, the fire and rescue service is encouraging people to take extra care when out and about. If the public spots a fire, they should call 999 quickly to help crews arrive quickly. Downloading What3Words to smartphones can also be useful in helping the caller to pinpoint the exact location of a fire in a rural area.

New investment by Norfolk County Council in technology, kit and equipment enables Norfolk's crews to get to and tackle rural fires quickly and effectively across the county. This has recently included new wildfire PPE for frontline staff and additional 4x4s with misting units which can reach difficult locations more easily than the larger fire appliances.