Latest news with #NeilAitken
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Warcop wildfire burns for eight hours in woodland
A wildfire blazed across woodland with fire crews battling for eight hours to bring it under fire, near Warcop at Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, was reported at 13:46 BST on fire engines along with four specialist wildfire teams managed to bring the fire under control but have continued to monitor it in case of further Fire and Rescue Service said the cause of the fire is not yet known and remains under investigation. It comes after the on-call watch manager at Appleby fire station Neil Aitken told the BBC how wildfires can take a toll on people's livelihoods, obliterate wildlife and put firefighters' lives at has been hit by a number of wildfires this year as hot dry weather persists across the county. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
18-05-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Cumbria firefighters plea amid busy wildfire season
Cumbria is under an extreme wildfire warning and the county's largely on-call fire service is braced to tackle the wide-reaching blazes. With a high number of the fires being caused by members of the public, two firefighters describe the dangers they face, and the toll it takes on their families. Phil Gardner is ready for a busy the on-call watch manager at Sedbergh fire station, he has noticed wildfires becoming increasingly common over the last 10 years."Everything's like a tinderbox," he said of the current vegetation is dry and the lush growth has yet to come through, with problems already being take a toll on people's livelihoods, obliterate wildlife and put firefighters' lives at risk, on-call watch manager at Appleby fire station Neil Aitken added."Come to enjoy the countryside, but be safe, be responsible," Mr Aitken said. 'You don't get any warnings' On-call firefighters maintain regular jobs, but respond to emergencies - dropping whatever they may be doing to respond to a call Gardner, 44, remembers watching a nativity performance at the school village hall when his pager went off, alerting him to an incident. "There was a big rattle of chairs and five of us ran out," he said. "Apparently, the kids just carried on." Mr Aitken, 62, remembers putting the first roast potato in his mouth one Christmas Day when he got called to attend a fire."Four hours later we're still out, and I come back to a Christmas lunch that's been under the grill for hours," he recalled a wildfire in Lancashire he and his team were called to."We went down initially for 24 hours, 10 days later we managed to get back home," Mr Aitken Gardner said: "There's no predictability about it either, you know?"It could happen at anytime, day or night. You don't get any warnings." 'Worst day of somebody's life' Tackling wildfires is a long, hot and arduous job, Mr Gardner all the equipment up the Cumbrian fells, sometimes on foot, is an "absolute nightmare", he added."You can't work for long in the fire kit because it does get very hot," he said."You're literally stood, like, a metre or two metres away."Ten to twelve hour days during those types of incidents are common, Mr Aitken Aitken, who like Mr Gardner joined the service at the age of 19, said he was getting to the twilight of his career but, in his head, he was still enthusiastic to help."Where you're going out, it's probably the worst day of somebody's life, and you can go and you can make a difference," he said."It's just my body shouts a bit at sometimes." 'Carelessness risks lives' They are asking people to tidy up after themselves when they have been out in the wildfire was caused by a bit of broken glass which had magnified the suns' rays and sparked a blaze, another by a disposable direction of the wind meant the BBQ was still there, with a couple of square kilometres of burnt grassland in its wake, Mr Gardner recalled."It can be annoying at times," Mr Aitken said."Just one person's carelessness, it's putting other people's lives - firefighters' lives -at risk." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
