Understanding the True Cost of UK Wildfires
- Rob Beeson
- May 20
- 7 min read
Wildfires are an increasingly visible threat across the UK landscape, from moorlands and forests to agricultural land. While the immediate image might be of smoke and flames, the true cost of these events extends far beyond the emergency response.
Understanding these costs is crucial for effective prevention and management. Drawing on recent reports and research, we can explore how the financial burden of wildfires is calculated and what figures we might anticipate under future conditions.
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Calculating the Cost: Different Perspectives
Estimating the cost of a wildfire isn't straightforward, and different bodies approach it in slightly different ways.
Government and Agency Reports
Typically, UK government bodies like Defra and the Home Office, along with agencies like the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, calculate costs by summing up direct expenditures and losses and then dividing by the burnt area to get an average cost per hectare. Their focus is often on tangible costs such as emergency response (fire and rescue service deployments) and immediate property damages.
Examples include the aggregate wildfire response costs reported by the Scottish and Northern Ireland FRS, with the severe 2011 fire season in Northern Ireland exceeding £8 million. Agricultural losses in 2018 totalled around £32 million, implying a substantial cost per hectare for farm fires that year.
Academic Research
Academic studies tend to take a broader view, incorporating environmental and health impacts alongside direct costs. Researchers have developed frameworks to identify both suppression costs and wider societal damages. Their work estimates that Fire & Rescue response costs for wildfires across the UK are about £55 million per year.
A single large moorland fire's firefighting costs alone can reach up to £1 million. Academics also include indirect costs like health impacts, noting, for instance, that the smoke from the 2018 Saddleworth Moor fire was linked to an estimated £21 million in health-related economic costs due to mortality and medical effects. These studies often use economic valuation techniques to capture a more comprehensive cost per hectare.
Industry and NGOs
Sectors like forestry and insurance, as well as environmental NGOs, also assess wildfire costs. The Forestry Commission and Natural England highlight ecosystem losses, such as carbon released or habitat destruction, by assigning monetary values. For example, the Saddleworth Moor fire burned deep peat, releasing approximately 40,000 tonnes of CO₂, which can be monetized.
The insurance industry focuses on property and agricultural losses, with NFU Mutual reporting £83.5 million in farm fire claims during the 2022 drought. The National Fire Chiefs Council notes that more frequent wildfires could increase insurance payouts and premiums.
Breaking Down Wildfire Costs
Wildfire cost assessments typically include several key categories:
Emergency Response Costs
These are the immediate expenses of fighting the fire, including deploying crews, engines, aircraft (like water bombers), and overtime. These costs are borne by public agencies and are often the most easily quantified. Large moorland fires can incur costs in the order of £1 million each for fire services. The Winter Hill wildfire in 2018, for example, cost about £1.2 million in Fire & Rescue Service expenses.
Environmental Damage
This category covers the harm to natural landscapes. Fires in peatlands and forests cause significant carbon release, soil damage, and loss of biodiversity. Analysts often monetize carbon emissions by applying a carbon price to the tonnes of CO₂ released. The carbon loss from the 2018 Saddleworth Moor fire has been valued in the millions of pounds due to the long-term CO₂ release.
Peatland fires destroy habitat that can take decades to recover. The value of lost biodiversity or the cost of restoration can also be included. A WWF report highlighted that degraded peat and lost carbon storage are major hidden costs.
Infrastructure and Property Damage
This involves the destruction of physical assets like buildings, homes (especially at the rural-urban interface), utility lines, fences, and farm infrastructure. While direct property loss can be limited in UK moorland fires that mainly burn wildland, there are instances like a 2010 Essex wildfire that destroyed several homes.
More commonly, costs include replacing items like miles of burnt fencing (the Saddleworth fire needed about £75,000 in new fencing) and repairing outdoor structures. Repair costs from a single fire can reach six figures, and if critical installations are affected, costs rise substantially.
Lost Ecosystem Services
Natural landscapes provide valuable services that fires disrupt. For example, fires in upland catchments can contaminate drinking water with ash and sediment, leading to increased water treatment costs. Other losses include grazing land for farmers (requiring replacement feed or causing livestock losses), lost timber value from commercial forests, and lost tourism/recreation income from area closures.
Agricultural productivity losses alone (scorched crops, grazing, livestock) were estimated at £32 million in the UK in summer 2018. These indirect economic losses are a significant component of cost per hectare in rural economies, though hard to quantify precisely.
Post-Fire Recovery and Restoration
Land managers often face substantial costs to restore landscapes after a fire. This includes controlling erosion, reseeding vegetation, replanting trees, and rewetting peatlands. On Saddleworth Moor, future peatland and habitat restoration was cited as a significant expense, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Previous conservation investments destroyed by the fire (e.g., ~£300,000 worth undone on Saddleworth) are also considered a loss. These costs per hectare can vary widely, from a few hundred pounds for reseeding grass to several thousand for full peatland restoration.
Indirect and Long-Term Costs
These are ripple effects beyond the immediate impact. Insurance payouts, while covering direct losses, represent a real economic cost that can lead to higher premiums. The £83.5 million in farm fire claims in 2022 illustrates this.
Health costs from smoke exposure (treating respiratory issues, hospital visits) and the statistical cost of shortened lives are another significant indirect cost, estimated around £21 million for the Saddleworth smoke episode's mortality impact. Business disruptions from road closures and air quality degradation (affecting tourism or events) are also considered in wildfire accounting.
Case Studies: Real-World Examples
Examining major UK wildfires illustrates the range of costs:
Saddleworth Moor Fire (2018)
This fire burned about 970 hectares of peat moorland. Estimated total cost varied from £10–20 million depending on factors included. A conservative estimate by moorland managers put the cost around £8.76 million, covering Fire & Rescue services and lost carbon value. Academic analyses including health impacts raised this to approximately £21 million. Additional costs included infrastructure repairs (£75,000 for fences) and future restoration (hundreds of thousands).
Previous conservation work worth ~£300,000 was undone. This resulted in a cost per hectare of roughly £9,000 based on the land management estimate, potentially exceeding £20,000/ha when health impacts are included. This high per-hectare cost reflects burning deep peat, prolonged firefighting (involving the Army), and the smoke affecting densely populated areas.
Marsden Moor Fire (2019)
Burning about 700 hectares, this fire had an estimated immediate damage cost of around £500,000 according to the National Trust. This covered habitat damage and initial response. Total damage from multiple incidents on Marsden Moor by 2021 was reported at ~£700,000. The 2019 fire destroyed peat habitat that would take "hundreds of years" to recover. The cost per hectare was approximately £700/ha based on the £500k/700 ha estimate.
This is lower than Saddleworth, partly due to shallower peat and potentially less intensive suppression costs per area. However, this figure doesn't fully capture carbon loss or long-term restoration, indicating that for a typical moorland fire, true environmental costs are likely higher than the simple £/ha figure.
Cannich Wildfire (2023)
The largest fire in UK modern history by area, burning about 1,600 hectares over two weeks in Scotland. While full figures are not published, costs reached multiple millions. The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service had high suppression costs over two weeks, including a helicopter deployment.
Habitat recovery efforts raised over £200,000. Costs include lost native woodlands and harm to species. The cost per hectare was likely on the order of £500–£2,000/ha. A total cost of £1.5–2 million would equate to roughly £1,000/ha. The lower cost density per hectare reflects the remote location with less infrastructure, even though the aggregate damage was significant.
Other examples like the Northern Ireland 2011 fires (>£8 million spent on suppression in a few months) and frequent grassland fires in Wales reinforce that cost per hectare varies by context. Peatland/heathland fires with carbon impacts often drive up the £/ha, while faster-moving grass fires may cost less per hectare but still require substantial emergency response.
Estimating Future Costs Per Hectare
Considering these factors, here's an estimated range for wildfire costs per hectare in the UK under conditions anticipated for 2025:
Low-End Estimate: ~£500-£1,000 per hectare
This applies to smaller, quickly controlled fires in lighter fuels like dry grass or crops, covering mainly firefighting and some immediate losses. It assumes moderate fuel loads, weather favouring rapid suppression, and ample response capacity. Many routine grassfires fall into this range.
Mid-Range Estimate: ~£5,000-£10,000 per hectare
This represents a typical serious wildfire in UK uplands on heather moor or degraded peatland, burning for several days. It involves significant multi-agency firefighting and substantial environmental loss (carbon, habitat) with limited property damage.
Fires like Saddleworth (at £8.76M/970 ha ~£9k/ha) fit here. This scenario assumes high fuel loads, extreme weather leading to intense behaviour, and a strong, multi-day suppression effort. It reflects significant costs from firefighting, carbon loss, and post-fire restoration.
High-End Estimate: ~£20,000+ per hectare
This is a worst-case scenario, such as a deep peat blaze or a fire impacting the wildland-urban interface during a heatwave. It involves extreme fuels and severe weather overwhelming suppression capacity. All cost categories are high: protracted firefighting, vast carbon emissions, potential property destruction or evacuations, major public health impacts from smoke, and extensive long-term restoration.
The health-cost-adjusted Saddleworth figure (~£21M/1000 ha ~£21k/ha) exemplifies this magnitude. Fires threatening homes or critical infrastructure would push costs even higher. While rare, this scenario is more likely as climate change increases extreme summer conditions.
Nationally, costs vary: England's fires near settlements can have higher £/ha due to proximity to assets. Scotland's large, remote fires mainly incur environmental and firefighting costs, with lower £/ha due to fewer nearby properties (like Cannich).
Wales and Northern Ireland see frequent grass/bog fires that have a high cumulative annual cost despite often having lower average £/ha for individual incidents. All nations face rising risk, potentially increasing even low-end costs if fires intensify.
Conclusion
Under 2025 conditions, UK wildfire costs per hectare could realistically range from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds. A prudent figure for planning for a significant wildfire is typically £5,000-£10,000/ha, but extreme events can far exceed this.
These high costs underscore the critical value of prevention and preparedness. Investments in land management techniques like controlled burning, grazing to reduce fuel, and peatland rewetting, while potentially costly upfront, are often financially justified when weighed against the very high per-hectare costs of uncontrolled wildfires.
Understanding the full financial impact, both direct and indirect, is essential for informing policy and investment decisions to mitigate future wildfire risks.
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