Don't Wait Until the Next Major Fire Costs Lives: Our Letter to The Guardian

Dear Editor,

Your article (It could have been a second Great Fire: how east London blaze showed scale of UK wildfire threat, 9 May) rightly shows that wildfire policy cannot begin when the first 999 call is made. It must begin months and years earlier, with practical vegetation management that breaks up fuel, reduces fire intensity and gives firefighters a chance.

Firebreaks cut after the Dagenham fire later helped save nearby homes. The same principle applies across rural England: grazing, cutting, mowing, bracken and scrub control, rewetting where feasible, and carefully controlled winter burning all have a role to play.

Yet land managers are increasingly constrained from using these tools. Government restrictions on controlled winter burning, agreements that reduce grazing, and complex consent processes for cutting and other vegetation management all risk creating more standing fuel, more continuous vegetation and more dangerous fires.

Scotland recognises that managed vegetation can help prevent and reduce wildfire risk. England should not wait until the next major fire costs lives before treating fuel-load management as a matter of public safety.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Gilruth

Chief Executive

The Moorland Association