Canada wildfires: as New York chokes, the wildfire climate emergency has also arrived at the UK’s door

Dozens of firefighters from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have been tackling a large wildfire in Cannich, near Inverness, since 28 May (it was ongoing as of 9 June).

The impact has been catastrophic for the local environment and communities. The fire has scorched 1,500 hectares of land (just under the size of Gibraltar) and has destroyed around half of RSPB Scotland’s Corrimony Nature Reserve.

All of Scotland now has a ‘very high’ or ‘extreme’ warning in place for an increased risk of wildfires until Saturday 10 June because of the dry and warm weather, while England has issued a heat-health alert for parts of the country as temperatures are set to hit 30C making it hotter than Ibiza. 

Clearly these sorts of incidents don’t just happen ‘elsewhere’. 

The reasons for each individual fire starting are complex but dry and hot conditions, escalated by climate change, are making wildfires more common and more intense.

Only last summer the UK recorded its highest ever temperatures with 40C heat felt in parts of the country. The record busting temperatures resulted in firefighters battling nearly 25,000 wildfires from June to August in England – almost four times the number recorded over the same period in 2021, according to data compiled by the PA news agency through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to England’s fire and rescue services. 

The figures include fires on heathland and moorland; in fields, hedgerows and allotments; and by the side of roads, rivers and railways. The true figure is likely to be higher. Five of the 44 fire services in England did not provide figures and two services, Essex and Northumberland, had only partial data for August.

Separate data published by the Home Office also shows the number of summer fires recorded as grassland, woodland and crops by all fire services in England in each year from 2010 to 2019 peaked at just under 22,000 in 2018 – meaning the total for 2022 is likely to be the highest in more than a decade, when official published data catches up with the period captured by PA’s recent FOI research.

The United Nations has warned that by 2090 global wildfires are expected to increase in intensity by 57% because of climate change. Separate research also suggests that such extreme events are already becoming more common than 100 years ago.

Hundreds of wildfire-related disasters have been recorded globally since the early 1900s and the data shows they are becoming more common too, according to figures gathered by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. The research only includes wildfires that fit its specific criteria (10 or more people reported killed; 100 or more people reported affected; declaration of a state of emergency and a call for international assistance), so the true scale of global wildfires is underestimated in the figures.

Between 1911 and 1980 the database had recorded just 23 wildfire related disasters, whereas this decade 45 have already been recorded – despite the fact we are only three years in. The 2000s saw the greatest number of wildfire disasters with 142 recorded which averages at more than one a month. 

The US was also found to be the most affected by wildfire-related disasters. Since 1910 it has recorded almost 100 wildfire disasters – more than double the number seen in Australia which had the second highest number of disasters at 37. Canada, which is currently battling more than 400 fires, was found to rank third, recording 25 disasters over the last 100 years. 

Wildfire disasters globally have caused the deaths of at least 4,683 people, injured almost 16,000 and made more than a quarter of a million homeless.

Can our emergency services cope?

The UK might not have experienced a wildfire-related disaster but the latest major blaze in the Highlands should be seen as a stark warning for the entire country – is the UK genuinely prepared for the increased threat of wildfires?

Well, according to research by NationalWorld we might be less prepared to take on the battle than hoped.

Green policies aside, governments need to better invest in already stretched emergency services that are at the forefront of the climate crisis. 

Last year research by NationalWorld revealed how Britain had lost at least 9,000 firefighters over the past decade, raising concerns that emergency crews were not prepared for the effects of climate change.

The Fire Brigades Union told us government ministers had been warned year after year of the risks posed by climate change yet had continued to cut firefighter jobs. 

Prevention is always better than cure but with climate change already causing destruction, our emergency services need all the help they can get.