For a group of fire-fighters and countryside rangers, the fire which raged across the North York Moors last summer was a particularly painful watch.
An area they had tended to for more than 12 years left charred and lifeless, and a fire far bigger than anything they had come across in decades, almost too much to handle.
In the aftermath, and knowing fine well with climate change, it could easily happen again, they wanted to help.
Jay Marrison had been a ranger for North York Moors National Park for 12 years, and on top of that has run his own countryside management business for the last 11 years.
With wildfire training and equipment of his own, he wanted to help and came up with the idea of starting a wildfire charity.
It has taken a year to get the paperwork and practicalities in place and the Wildfire Response Team is now looking for more volunteers to get involved, and funding to get them trained, with a view to being operational by the new year.
With the Langdale and Fylingdales Moor fire of 2025 being the biggest in the region’s history, and a 2026 where more than 90 square miles of the UK were affected by wildfire, it a problem which will return next spring and summer.
Jay said: “I grew up in a little village, have always worked outside and when you see it burning, you get invested. That was my old patch as a ranger and I wanted to do something to help.
“We have had the hottest summer for a few years and next summer will be hotter. We are all having to think about the impact of climate change.”
The Wildfire Response Team is far from a replacement, or instead of, statutory fire and rescue services, both here in North Yorkshire or anywhere else across the country, the team is keen to stress.
In fact, the organisation has been devised with the blessing of fire chiefs and built around some of the challenges North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service told Jay it had faced.
He explained: “We wanted to ensure anything we set up, they were in support of and could see the benefit of.
“When we liaised with NYFRS, it said it struggled to get access to drones, welfare units and the ability to move staff and resources on and off the moors quickly without pulling a fire engine off the scene.”
Covering these issues and practical jobs such as bringing water and food for crews, as well as fuel for vehicles, are roles the charity will undertake should the need arise.
It has had three drones donated as well as volunteer pilots, acquired a vehicle capable of off-roading and around 40 people have volunteered to help with various aspects of the charity.
Two of them are Chris Barker and Andy Cooke, who between them have served as volunteer fire-fighters at Goathland Fire Station for almost 40 years.
Chris, who was part of the huge fire-fighting effort, said: “It was a very big forest fire and we knew, if it got onto the wider moors, there was no stopping it.
“If the ordnance had not been there it would have been damping down, but it was all the perfect storm for it to get away.
“When we turned up, we could just see a huge amount of forest on fire, didn’t know how big it was, couldn’t get around it and needed a drone. The fire service didn’t have one and the police one was being used.”
Andy added: “Fires are going to be an increasing problem each year and it is not just about the fires, communities are at risk now. We are not turning up and taking over, we are a support service, that is why we are here.”
It took six months to get charity status because there were no other charities in England and Wales proposing to do what the Wildfire Response Team were wanting to do.
After many questions, assurances and processes, status was granted in March of this year and since then it has been full steam ahead recruiting volunteers, applying for funding and visiting country and agricultural shows – including the Great Yorkshire Show, Ryedale and Goathland – to raise awareness and make useful contacts.
Jay’s wife Sarah, who works in the voluntary sector and has done much of the application process, said: “We are very lucky people like Chris Barker and Andy Cooke have direct fire-fighting experience. That gives us credibility and experience to draw from, as there will be people who don’t have that experience and we will train them, but we didn’t expect to have so many people apply this quickly.”
Volunteers have all sorts of backgrounds, skills and qualifications and want to ‘give something back’ following the heroic efforts of fire crews, farmers and game-keepers to stop people and property succumbing to last summer’s unprecedented fire.
Jay added: “We have a couple of people who have always wanted to look at being on-call fire-fighters but the commitment was too much. This, for them, is a way of doing a bit of that.
“Some people don’t want to be anywhere near a fire but can help with logistics, welfare, or even running a coffee morning or a tombola for fundraising – it all comes together.
“Our vision for this charity is to complement the work of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service but the eventual aim is to have locally based teams across the northern uplands, like Mountain Rescue Teams are and under the umbrella of the Wildfire Response Team.
“We need to prove it works first and then roll it out.”
Find out more about getting involved with the team here
