LSE Video Shows Why Traditional Land Management is Our Best Defense Against Wildfires

Rob Beeson
1 minute ago
5 min read

A recent and highly revealing video produced by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) takes a close look at modern wildfires, asking a critical question: Why are wildfires getting harder to fight?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKKhBPWc6pg

The answers provided by the LSE team are not only eye-opening but also deeply validate the core principles we advocate for here at the Moorland Association.

The LSE conclude that the secret to preventing catastrophic wildfires does not lie solely in fighting them from the sky, but in actively managing the ground beneath our feet.

Key Takeaways from the LSE Research

Fuel is the Real Threat: While weather plays a role, the amount of dry vegetation (the "fuel load") on the ground is the primary factor that determines how fast and how intensely a wildfire will burn.
Land Abandonment Increases Risk: Moving away from active agricultural land management allows dangerous levels of grasses, shrubs, and young trees to build up, creating a perfect tinderbox.
Excluding Fire Backfires: Decades of trying to artificially ban or exclude fire from landscapes has actually allowed immense amounts of fuel to accumulate, making modern fires far more dangerous and difficult to control.
Traditional Management is the Solution: The smartest, most sustainable way to prevent extreme wildfires is proactive land management. This includes traditional techniques like controlled burning, mechanical cutting, and grazing to reduce fuel loads before disaster strikes.

Less Global Fire, More Devastation

To understand the current crisis, consider the data. The LSE video highlights a surprising paradox: global burnt area is actually decreasing because expanding infrastructure - like roads and built-up areas - slows fires in vast African and Australian savannahs.

If the global fire footprint is shrinking, why do wildfires feel more extreme?

The answer lies in where and how they burn. While overall area is down, the frequency and intensity of fires in vulnerable ecosystems - specifically forests and peatlands - are rising alarmingly.

Instead of slow-moving fires, we increasingly face "monster fires." These fast-moving infernos burn with massive flames, easily overwhelming firefighting resources and leaving a devastating trail of destruction in their wake.

The Root Cause: Fuel Loads and Land Abandonment

What exactly is fueling these changes? When a wildfire breaks out, its behavior is driven by weather conditions - wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity. However, the LSE video rightly highlights a second, critical factor that is far too often overlooked in public debates: the fuel.

In the context of a wildfire, "fuel" means vegetation. Specifically, it is the amount of dry, combustible plant matter sitting on the ground. The amount of this dry fuel ultimately dictates the size of the flames and the terrifying speed at which the fire spreads.

This brings us to one of the most vital points raised by the researchers, and a message the Moorland Association has long championed. As the LSE video states:

"It’s not just climate change that’s an issue here, it’s the way that we manage our land that ultimately determines how much vegetation or fuel is available to burn."

A primary driver of this fuel buildup is the abandonment of active land management. When agricultural land or managed moorland is left to its own devices without an adequate fire management plan, the risk of extreme fire skyrockets.

The process is highly predictable. Land that was once carefully managed, farmed, or grazed is left to overgrow. First, thick grasses take over. These are soon followed by dense woody shrubs, and eventually young trees. While this land is in this transitional phase of overgrowth, the abundance of fuel creates a very high risk of extreme, uncontrollable wildfires.

Furthermore, the LSE notes the specific danger to peatlands. When peatlands are drained or mismanaged, the rich peat soil itself becomes available to burn, creating deep-seated, ecologically disastrous fires that release vast amounts of carbon.

Protecting our vital UK peatlands requires active surface management to prevent these exact scenarios.

The Danger of Doing Nothing

For a long time, the prevailing public and political attitude toward wildfires has been one of total suppression. The instinct has been to stamp out every fire and exclude it entirely from the natural environment. However, the LSE research clearly explains why this approach has failed.

"Decades of trying to exclude fire from landscapes has actually allowed fuel to build up, and this makes fires more dangerous. It multiplies the risk for people and property in rural areas."

When we stop managing the land and allow fuel to accumulate, we are simply loading a ticking time bomb. When the weather conditions are finally right - during a hot, dry summer - the resulting fire is virtually unstoppable.

The LSE emphasizes that relying solely on a reactive response is a losing battle. When fires burn fast and with huge flames, fighting them requires an incredibly resource-intensive effort, including massive personnel deployments and expensive aerial attacks from helicopters and planes.

Despite these heroic efforts, it often takes far too long to bring these monster fires under control. As the video bluntly notes, "There is very little we can do once these intense fires take hold."

The Smarter Solution: Returning to Traditional Management

If reactive firefighting is too little, too late, what is the answer?

The LSE research points directly to the proactive land management strategies that our members practice every single year. The video states clearly: "

"The smarter, more sustainable solution is to tackle the fuel problem and to stop these extreme fires before they happen."

How do we tackle the fuel problem? By utilizing the proven, practical tools of land management. The researchers suggest bringing grazing animals back onto landscapes to naturally reduce vegetation. In areas close to towns and villages, they recommend mechanical cutting to create firebreaks.

Most importantly, the LSE calls for a return to traditional fire management practices. In places like Australia, California, and right here in the UK, landscapes have evolved alongside fire for centuries.

Indigenous and traditional land managers historically used frequent, controlled, low-intensity fires to manage the land, clear out dead vegetation, and prevent the buildup of dangerous fuel loads. Once those traditional practices are removed, the fuel load surges, and the risk of catastrophic wildfire multiplies.

This is exactly what controlled burning (or prescribed burning) achieves on our heather moorlands. By conducting careful, highly controlled "cool burns" during the wet winter months, land managers safely remove the canopy of old, dry vegetation. This deprives future summer wildfires of the fuel they need to spread, protecting the underlying peat soil, the local wildlife, and nearby rural communities.

A Call to Embrace Fire as a Tool

The science is clear, and the LSE's findings echo what generations of rural land managers have always known. We cannot simply sit back, abandon our landscapes, and hope for the best. To protect our environment from the devastating threat of monster wildfires, we must be proactive.

We must move away from the dangerous idea that all fire is bad, and instead recognize that carefully managed fire is one of our greatest tools for conservation and protection.

As the LSE powerfully conclude:

"Dealing with this situation requires us to rethink or return to an older understanding of our relationship with fire - how we manage it, and when we need to embrace it."

At the Moorland Association, we will continue to embrace it. By championing traditional land management, grazing, and controlled burning, we are actively tackling the fuel problem, protecting our precious peatlands, and ensuring our beautiful landscapes remain safe and resilient for generations to come.