As of mid-August, the BBC was reporting that there had been almost 500 more wildfires in 2022 than in the whole of 2021. Mark Hardingham, chairman of the National Fire Chiefs Council, told the BBC that hot and dry weather had combined to create the perfect conditions for wildfires and that there had been 745 wildfires in the UK – more than a 200% increase from the total figure of 247 for all of last year.
Firefighters have been responding to these incidents “day in, day out” before the record-breaking temperatures of 40C (104F) in July, he said. “They are physically exhausting and demanding incidents to deal with.
“Not only are you turning up as a firefighter in extreme, high temperatures, [but you’re] wearing your firefighter clothing, you’re chasing these fires across fields, you’re dragging heavy equipment, you’re keeping an eye out all the time for your own welfare and safety and those of your colleagues.
“Once you’ve dealt with that fire, more often than not you’re picking up another call to go to the next fire.”
See the full BBC article here.
We have seen increasing numbers of customers such as estate owners and events planners coming directly to us this year as fire services have come under pressure. One client, an estate customer, sadly had 15 acres of woodland go up two weeks ago. Their local fire brigade advised them to buy our Guarany Flexible Firefighting Backpacks and to ‘keep an eye out for hotspots’. With soaring temperatures, festival organisers have also been keen to have their own professional (our backpacks are used by fire services across the UK and France) equipment to draw on should a fire break out.
Farm fires have also been on the rise with a combine catching fire very near our own HQ last week. Guarany supplies a pick-up truck fire fighting kit and we are stocking up on these as they provide farmers and land owners and managers with much larger capacity tanks (up to 700 litres) which are flexible and, along with a pump, motor, hose and discharge gun, can be easily dissembled and stored come winter.
For more information on equipment for firefighting, do give us a call on 01273 400092 or email malcolm@prosprayers.co.uk.
