F I R E S I N UK
SHAUN WALTON 30 YEARS OF FIGHTING WILDFIRES IN THE UK FIRE & RESCUE
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wildfire
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JANUARY - MARCH 2021
In the UK today, we have more frequent, severe and widespread wildfires, and a longer wildfire season, and we need to prepare for and focus on local, national and international learning; prevention; pro-active prescribed burning; fire weather prediction systems; and joint operational response more than ever, to deal with the next generation of wildfires. The UK Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP), UK FRS National Operational Learning (NOL) and UK National Operational Guidance (NOG) support and help progress multiagency and fire sector learning and development and provide current and consistent standard operational procedures, thereby improving firefighter safety and public welfare. Pooling knowledge from several Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) in high-risk areas of Greater Manchester, including areas that bordered Peak District National Park, we developed wildfire planning and response partnerships, working with and learning from key on-the-ground land managers who had immense local knowledge of fire behaviour and other landscape attributes that they accumulated over many years of experience managing prescribed burns and uncontrolled wildfires, which they often handled without the intervention of FRSs.
