63 call-outs in 68 days: a Cornwall fire crew’s bonfire plea

The pile of dried branches at the bottom of the garden looks harmless enough. Right now, in Cornwall, it is anything but. One local fire crew has been called out 63 times in 68 days, and they are asking you to think hard before you light anything at all.

A summer that has not let up

Wadebridge Community Fire Station says it is exhausted, and the numbers explain why. Since 1 June the crew has answered 63 incidents in just 68 days. To put that in context, the station would normally expect around three call-outs a week. This summer has been something else.

Every firefighter on the crew is on-call. That means they leave their main jobs, their family time and whatever else they are doing the moment their pagers sound. The station has thanked its firefighters, and their families and employers too, whose support makes each response possible.

Why the crews want you to hold off

The plea from the station is a simple one. During this spell of extremely dry weather, please do not light bonfires. Conditions mean a fire can spread incredibly quickly, putting lives, property, wildlife and the countryside at risk. Even a small garden fire can escalate fast and pull out an emergency response from a service that is already stretched.

Wadebridge posted the appeal, but it lands the same way right across the county. Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and Cornwall Council have been asking people not to burn garden waste while the wildfire risk is high, warning that a single spark can start a wildfire and that fires spread quickly through dry grass, gorse and heathland.

Safer ways to clear your garden waste

If you have a heap of clippings or branches to get rid of, there are options that do not involve a match. You can compost it at home. You can take it to a household waste recycling centre. Or you can simply wait until conditions are safe and the risk has dropped.

Doing any of those, and taking a bit more care outdoors generally, cuts the number of preventable fires and eases the pressure on crews during an exceptionally busy stretch. Sixty-three times in sixty-eight days the pagers have gone off. The crew would rather the next one was not a garden fire that never needed to happen.