Cornwall’s Forests Hit Extreme Wildfire Risk This Weekend

A dropped cigarette. A disposable BBQ left smouldering in the grass. In the wrong conditions, that is all it takes to start a fire that races through a Cornish forest faster than anyone can put it out.

Forestry England is asking the public never to light a fire or BBQ in Cornwall’s forests and woodlands as the UK’s third heatwave of the summer pushes wildfire risk to its highest rating.

A hot, dry start to summer has left the countryside primed to burn. With more high temperatures and rising wind speeds forecast this weekend, the Met Office’s Natural Hazards Partnership has issued an Extreme wildfire alert, and Forestry England is asking for the public’s help.

How quickly a fire can spread

Fire does not always stay where it starts. It can move at speed both above ground and through the soil itself, dying down in one spot and popping back up somewhere else. Something as small as a cigarette butt or a disposable BBQ can turn into a large and dangerous emergency.

📷Credit Forestry England/Crown copyright.

“It will take decades to make up for one moment of carelessness”

Katy Mansell, Forestry England Area Manager, said hot, sunny weather feels like the perfect time to gather with friends and family in nature, but the danger of lighting BBQs and fires in the countryside is hard to overstate.

“Each time we manage to safely extinguish a forest fire, we feel very thankful that the outcome wasn’t a very different story,” Katy said. “Forest fires put lives at risk, destroy habitats, kill wildlife, and put our emergency services in harm’s way.”

She pointed to Wareham Forest in Dorset, where Forestry England is still working to restore hundreds of hectares of wildlife habitat burned by human behaviour in 2020.

“It’s incredibly sad that, in many cases, this could be entirely prevented by treating the countryside more responsibly,” she said. “It will take decades to make up for one moment of carelessness. Our plea to you is very simple: help us care for the countryside by never lighting a fire or BBQ in the forest.”

What you can do

The advice is short. Take all your litter home. Never light a fire or BBQ in the countryside, however careful you think you are being.

And if you come across a fire already burning, do not try to tackle it yourself. Move to safety and call 999.