THE number of wildfires tackled by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service soared this year.
Figures obtained by the PA news agency through Freedom of Information requests showed the number of wildfires tackled by firefighters in the county for summer 2022 was more than the numbers for summer 2020 and 2021 put together.
In all cases the figures are for fires that have been recorded in the category ‘grassland, woodland and crops’.
Fire chiefs said the figures showed how staff were “increasingly being challenged by new extremes of weather as our climate changes”, while praising the dedication and bravery of officers in tackling unprecedented conditions.
A sequence of heatwaves led to England experiencing the driest July since 1935 and the joint warmest summer on record.
It also led to a significant wildfire at Delamere Forest in July.
The run of heatwaves, along with above-average temperatures in every month except December, means 2022 will be the UK’s warmest year on record, the Met Office said earlier this week.
For Cheshire, the figures were:
- June 2020: 57
- July 2020: 29
- August 2020: 26 (Total for summer 2020: 112)
- June 2021: 51
- July 2021: 36
- August 2021: 22 (Total for summer 2021: 109)
- June 2022: 80
- July 2022: 140
- Aug 2022: 125 (Total for summer 2022: 345).
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