Latest news with #moorlandfires
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Researchers create system to log air quality impacts of moorland fires
Researchers have created a system to detect and measure the impacts of moorland fires, which will form part of a response to government proposals on heather and grassland burning in England. Dr Maria Val Martin from the University of Sheffield, one of the three universities involved, explained: 'I studied wildfire smoke impacts in the western US, and experienced smoke and air quality alerts first-hand while living and working in Colorado, but I never expected to encounter similar conditions here in the UK. 'That changed on 9 October 2023, when smoke from prescribed burns in the Peak District covered the entire city of Sheffield. Everyone in the team is based in Sheffield, and we all experienced the event.' Smoke lingered in the city for approximately six hours. Its source was official burns to manage the moorland for various purposes, including game bird shooting. Particle pollution in Sheffield reached its highest values for eight months, but there was no data from villages closer to fires. The research team set up a pilot system for the 2024 burn season called FireUp, combining satellite data and 10 ground-based sensors in part of the Peak District national park. Val Martin said: 'Satellite imagery can help us detect where and when burns are happening, but in the UK they often miss events because of cloud cover or short burn times. We therefore need ground data too.' Dr Rebecca Brownlow from Sheffield Hallam University explained: 'Our sensors require mains power, so we asked local residents to host them. The response was very positive. Many people living and working in the Peak District wanted to take part. They also shared their personal experiences of smoke events and their concerns about air quality and their own health.' Dr Joe Glentworth added: 'On 11 November 2024, one of our sensors recorded a big increase in particle pollution. It was in a small residential area. Local residents also began sending us photos via WhatsApp. This combination of community reporting and high-resolution monitoring allowed us to capture a short-lived but significant pollution event that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.' Triangulating data from the ground-based sensors and instruments on the PlanetScope and Sentinel-2 satellites enabled the team to pinpoint the fire locations. A next step will be an app to make it easier for residents, visitors and organisations to log both wildfires and prescribed burns. 'England's peatland burning is releasing harmful levels of air pollution that current monitoring fails to capture, and existing regulations struggle to control,' Val Martin said. 'Policymakers now have both the means and the mandate to address this long-overlooked issue, ensuring that upland land management better reflects contemporary climate, health and environmental priorities.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The approach used in FireUp could also be used to assess the impacts of landscape fires across other parts of the UK. After an exceptionally dry spring, there have been more than 30 moorland fires in the Peak District and south Pennines, prompting a new system of fire risk warnings for visitors. In 2018 fires on Winter Hill and Saddleworth Moor burned for seven weeks, causing air pollution problems across Manchester and more than 60km (40 miles) away in St Helens, Merseyside, with more than 4.5 million people exposed to air pollution that exceeded the World Health Organization's daily guidelines. The resulting health burden was estimated at between 14 and 42 early deaths.
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Wildfire warning signs put up in Peak District as climate crisis increases threat
Wildfire warning signs normally seen in the parched Australian outback have been installed in the UK for the first time. In a stark illustration of the worsening impact of the climate emergency, signs have been put up in the Peak District and south Pennines, where there have been more than 30 moorland fires since March. It is part of efforts by rangers and volunteers to prevent discarded cigarettes, campfires and barbecues from sparking more fires during the prolonged warm and dry weather. Matt Scott-Campbell, of the Moors for the Future Partnership, said the aim was to inform the public about the growing risk of wildfires. 'These signs are normally used in countries that have lived with the risk of wildfire for generations. But now we are seeing the effects of climate change … this might be the beginning of us as a society really coming to terms with the fact that we need to modify our behaviours when we're accessing wild places.' He said the area between Sheffield and Manchester was facing a triple challenge of a warming climate, increasing visitor numbers and a budget reduction of about 50% in the past decade. 'We really want to encourage people to come and experience these amazing habitats, these ultra-high-value peatland ecosystems. But we need to be accessing them and enjoying them responsibly in ways that don't create fires,' Scott-Campbell said. For the past 20 years specialist teams have been working on the moors to try to manage and preserve the nature-rich peatland, blocking erosion gullies to increase water retention and cutting back heather to create a more diverse habitat. An initial inspection of the land after the recent spate of fires found that those areas that had been restored and protected had survived with less damage. Scott-Campbell said: 'Damaging fire events like those of recent weeks only increase the urgency with which we must act to restore and protect degraded blanket bog habitats in the face of a changing climate.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Phil Mulligan, the chief executive of the Peak District national park, said healthy and restored uplands were already playing a vital role in efforts to tackle the climate emergency and he urged all visitors to be vigilant about fire risks. 'I cannot stress enough the need for care, responsibility and vigilance when visiting the countryside of our national parks,' he said. 'None of us want to play witness to the very picture-postcard views we cherish being lost to fire.'
