'Leave the barbecues at home': Warning goes out in campaign to end moor fires

This week the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) launched its ‘No Moor BBQs’ campaign to combat the devastating impact that moorland fires have on the countryside.

And while SYFR is not yet calling for the use of disposable barbecues to be made a criminal offence like the BMC is, its officers have spoken out to ‘strongly advise’ against them.

This comes after moorland fires raged for days in May on Hatfield Moor and figures reveal an estimated 77km2 of moorland in the Peak District has been destroyed as a result of wildfires since 2007.

“In South Yorkshire we saw only recently, through the Hatfield Moor fires in May, the devastation and damage that moorland fires can cause,” said SYFR Station Manager, Steve Jones.

“Not only do they damage the landscape and tie up huge amount of national fire service resources, they destroy habitats and endanger animals and rare species.

“What makes these incidents even harder to take is the thought that they could’ve been started by something as small and careless as someone having a disposable barbecue, or mindlessly throwing a partially lit cigarette into a bush.

“That’s why our message this summer is really clear – leave the disposable barbecues at home, be careful when discarding of cigarettes and take litter home with you.”

The BMC’s campaign, which has been shared by Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team in the Peak District and South Yorkshire, goes one step further and calls for an outright ban on disposable barbecues on open moorlands, lobbying the Government to make it a criminal offence.

A spokesperson for the BMC said: “Each year, moorland fires have a devastating effect on wildlife, livestock and people, and can often destroy the underlying peat that is crucial in our fight against climate change.

"Fires burn for days or weeks, can re-ignite and require significant human and financial resources, all at a significant public cost.

“Moorland firefighting alone costs the UK economy over a million pounds each year and in some areas, threaten millions of pounds of peatland restoration work as well as exposing millions of people to dangerous levels of polluted air.”

The BMC revealed that the number of moorland fires in the UK is on the increase.There were 137 wildfires larger than 25 hectares recorded in 2019, compared to 16 in 2013.

And on the same weekend as the Hatfield Moor fires were raging, a total of 20 moorland fires were burning across the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and New Forest.

Following the fires on Hatfield Moor, a campaign was launched by a Derbyshire man to ban the sale of disposable barbecues.

Speaking at the time, Tony Macartney said: “Obviously these things need banning, most people would agree that the damage they cause is just ridiculous.”