South Wales Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Team display latest wildfire fighting techniques

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Team this week welcomed firefighting colleagues from across the UK providing a four day training programme around the latest wildfire fighting techniques.

Only weeks after the Team joined a UK-wide deployment to support international colleagues battling the recent wildfires in Greece, they took to the mountains around the South Wales valleys demonstrating tactical measures to minimise the risk and destruction caused by wildfires each year.

Among the techniques on display was the cutting and clearing of large valleys of undergrowth and bracken with specialist iCutter machinery which stops the spread of fire, and the careful well planned use of fire to fight fire, undertaking coordinated and controlled burning to also stop future fire spread.

Seventeen firefighters from Services across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales travelled to join South Wales Fire and Rescue Service for the training programme, which also included presentations by colleagues at Natural Resources Wales.

Station Manager and Lead Wildfire Officer Craig Hope said: ‘We are really pleased to be joined by so many colleagues from across the UK and have the opportunity to share the knowledge and experience we have gained over many years tackling wildfires in the South Wales area, across the UK and across the world.

“With climate change increasing the risk of wildfire it is important that we create more opportunities to learn from each other and to adopt new techniques and ways of working which can limit the devastation, destruction and risk to life that wildfires pose.

“We hope the training has been useful and we look forward to hosting further training events for our partners in the future.”

In 2019 South Wales Fire and Rescue Service hosted the World Wildfire Conference in the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, which attracted delegates from across the world to discuss the issue of wildfire on a global scale. Look out for further details of the work of our Wildfire Team on our website and social media channels.