Prescribed Burn at Stalybridge: What Really Happened
- Rob Beeson
- Mar 24
- 3 min read
The below was posted on Facebook by the Peak District Moorland Group on 24th March 2025.
On Tuesday 18th March, a prescribed fire was reported to have got away from skilled personnel as they were conducting a planned management burn.
Manchester Evening News reported on the fire at Stalybridge, along with their sensational headlines stating that “large amounts of ground was left scorched by the flames, with mountain wildfire teams remaining in attendance”.
Obviously, news items are often “beefed” up to get views and this incident is one of those case in point. The area that was affected amounts to around 9 hectares, bigger than intended - but paling into size compared to many other fires from last week. It did not burn into the peat and undoubtedly will act as an excellent fuel break for several years; it can simply be classed as a cool burn.
The estate team were well manned with LANTRA trained personnel with many years of practical experience, had adequate fire suppression resources - forced air blowers, fire beaters and all-terrain vehicles including an argocat equipped with a fogging unit - all of which are required as part of the best practice conditions within the Heather and Grass Burning Code and our sector standards.
The planned burn was lit in a steady wind, in dense dwarf shrub vegetation which hadn’t been burned for nearly 25 years due to previous mismanagement and Government restrictions - the reason for the burn was to reduce the vegetation for biodiversity benefits and to create a fuel break for any eventual future wildfire incidents – this is an area with a high reported problem with historical arson events.
Unfortunately, the Argocat fogging unit had a mechanical failure, leading to the personnel in attendance having to tackle the burn with forced air blowers and fire beaters which often results in a slower termination of the burn.
Concerned residents in the area had called the fire into Greater Manchester Fire Rescue Service, and although it wasn’t out of control, the FRS turned out as they are familiar with the area as they have been involved in numerous “live” training events alongside the estate staff, who the FRS have openly commended in their fire knowledge on several occasions, which we have reported about in previous posts.
For anybody that has worked with machinery will know, very often failure occurs at the worst moment - this was the case when the FRS Hagglund had a track detachment, rendering it unmovable, luckily it wasn’t in the path of the fire. A rescue vehicle was needed to drag the Hagglund off the moor so that the track could be re-attached the following day.
What is the reason for this post, well we feel it important to update and report, as we do on other events in our Peak District moorland areas concerning fire. Even the experts with years of experience and generational knowledge are now struggling to deal with the huge fuel load that we have in many upland and lowland habitat types, coupled with an increase in footfall and a disregard to the rules and warnings around illegal fires.
Ideas around rewetting are unproven and don’t consider the weather patterns that we have been experiencing, as many have suggested raising the water in some areas can inadvertently increase vegetation growth and build up, which is sadly causing the bigger issues we are now witnessing in some areas.
The need for “fit for purpose” wildfire mitigation and vegetation management on the ground is even more prevalent now, as we are seeing multiple wildfires throughout England, Scotland and Wales since this incident.
We feel the increase in fuel build up has been exasperated by policy and on the ground restrictions, prescribed burning is still felt by many as the most effective type of combustible fuel management on the ground, leaving a reduction in vegetation and little to no combustible brash behind which so often happens with the alternative method which is mechanical cutting.