The chief officer of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service says resources need to change to tackle the growing issue of wildfires in the region.
A report in the wake of the wildfires, which raged across ten square miles of the North York Moors last summer, confirmed the fire is believed to have been caused by cooking using a naked flame, potentially a campfire or gas burner.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has continually thanked and praised the help of local farmers, gamekeepers, and fire crews from other services around the country which were drafted in to fight the fire, which burned for more than a month on Langdale and Fylingdales Moors.
The service says the full report will be made public later in the year but in an initial statement, the chief fire officer, Jonathan Dyson said: “In response to this incident, we are reviewing and strengthening our wildfire provision.
“This includes increasing the number of specialist wildfire teams, enhancing our equipment, vehicles and protective clothing, and putting formal agreements in place with partner organisations to support us during major incidents.
“We are also progressing work to improve our ability to deliver large volumes of water at wildfire incidents.”
Mr Dyson told a meeting of Whitby Community Network last month that government policy changes on moorland management would also have an impact on fire service risk and resources when it comes to tackling future wildfires.
He said: “We are no longer just a flooding country, we are a flooding and wildfire country. Moorland or management of moorland – that changes the risk to the service. Whether people can burn is a decision that changes moorland management.
“We are saying are we adequately resourced? We are resourced to the risk. If government policy changes, our resource needs to change.”
Meanwhile, work is continuing to rectify damage caused to the environment, which experts say could take 15 years.
A draft three-year plan has been developed to guide the next phase of peatland repair, re-establishment of sphagnum moss and cotton grass, and recovery of wet heath landscapes.
Progress has also been made in installing fencing to allow the safe and controlled return of grazing for landowners, farmers and graziers whose livelihoods have been affected.
Emergency repairs have also been made to protect the nationally important archaeological site of John Cross Rigg, a prehistoric earthwork.
It is one of many historic sites that for decades, if not hundreds of years, remained hidden and protected by vegetation before being exposed by the fire.
Winter weather has washed away remaining soil and vast areas are now prone to erosion, creating a flood risk and water course quality issues.
Sections of John Cross Rigg were slumping and sliding, with erosion along banks and ditches, causing irreversible damage to the site.
The North York Moors National Park Authority (NYMNPA) has installed coir (coconut fibre) matting to help stabilise soils, reduce erosion, and create conditions in which vegetation can re-establish.
Other historical features, seen for the first time, were imitations of Teesside Docks recreated on the moor to appear like it was on fire during night-time bombing raids in the Second World War. Electric displays were created to mimic urban layouts and lights shining through gaps in blackout curtains in bids to trick the Luftwaffe into thinking they were bombing towns.
Burial mounds from the early Bronze Age (around 1700 BC), when the tradition was to bury people at high locations within earth and stone mounds called barrows, as well as remains from early agriculture were also exposed.
Archaeologists also came across old cart tracks and pony hooves eroded into the ground. They are thought to be from an ancient transport route between Whitby and York, before turnpikes and modern surfaced roads, when Whitby was an important port for fish, salt and alum.
Miles Johnson, Head of Historic Environment for the national park said: “For an archaeologist, it is remarkable to see the historic landscape of Fylingdales Moor revealed with such clarity, but that excitement is tempered by deep concern.
“The very exposure that allows us to understand these features more fully is now putting them at risk.”
