Wildfire on tinderbox dry Sheffield moorland now burning for 48 hours
A conservation group decried how people are “still are turning out with camps and naked flames” despite one of the driest summers on record
A wildfire on a huge stretch of Sheffield moorland has now been burning for 48 hours.
This is the scene on moors off Mortimer Road, stretching across both High and Low Bradfield, after a blaze broke out on August 12.
Gamekeepers from the Peak District Moorland Group and South Yorkshire firefighters have been battling the flames on the Bradfield estate, as the heatwave continues.
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South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said this morning: Our crews are still in attendance s at the wildfire near Mortimer Road, Sheffield. This is a well developed moorland fire that has been burning for 48 hours.
“Four crews are in attendance and are working hard to completely extinguish the fire.
“Residents of both High and Low Bradfield are advised to keep windows and doors closed due to the large plume of smoke.”
Earlier this week, the Peak District Moorland Group said: “South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue attended and got to work with 70mm hoses and fire beaters. Traditional fire beaters are pretty useless with high fuel loads, heat and wind.
“Thankfully our WhatsApp group kicked in and within an hour we had experienced gamekeepers and their fire fighting equipment turning up from all the shooting estates, along with local farmers who brought tractors and slurry spreaders to help the Bradfield gamekeeping team.”
But in a follow up post today (August 14), the group said: “Just to emphasise how stretched resources are, we have public access closures in the White Peak, nothing in the Dark Peak, where currently several incidents have been recorded, and still people are turning out with camps and naked flames.
“With the prolonged extreme temperatures, peat ignition is rapid and the slow process of damping down continues.