VIDEO: Hot Spotting - Battling Smoldering Wildfire
- Rob Beeson
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
Originally posted on Facebook on 5th May 2025 by the Peak District Moorland Group.
Footage sent in from a Fire and Rescue Service Buxton reservist.
The fire suppression process that our rural workforce of gamekeepers and farmers faced on Wednesday afternoon and night was fast moving, dangerous and required skilled team working, the work taking place over the following days is often referred to as “hot spotting”.
Hot spotting is the process of pouring a huge amount of water onto smouldering ground fires - often peat soils that have been ignited by slow burning fine fuels very close to the ground.
Without a deluge of water falling from the sky, hot spotting can be mind numbingly tedious, and take days or weeks to get under control.
These ground fires in the Goyt Valley forestry have been caused by smouldering pine needles, exactly the same can happen from heather cutting on open moorland, where the cut brash is left to rot on the cut areas.
When dry, this brash is identical to kindling and causes a smouldering ground fire which in dry conditions, can ignite the peat soils found on our moors.
Mechanical cutting does have a place in modern day management regimes, it can also cause problems and is definitely not the “silver bullet” when wildfire mitigation is a priority.
Keep Updated - Get Our FREE Newsletter
📧 Keep updated on all moorland issues - sign up for our free Newsletter.
