North West Moorland

[reohn2]

Where's the army,where are the Chinhooks?..........

Just watching the local BBC news,Fire fighters are short staffed some working upto 17 hour shifts and are short of water and food whilst on the moor and having to appeal on twitter for supplies!!!!!!!

What's going on!!!!!!!!

Not to mention the utter MORONS starting fresh fires in other parts of the moor!!!!!!!!

[eileithyia]

Messages seem to be confusing... they have enough food and water, so no more needed at present. They need caps/socks/suncream. Then someone saying they are not actually getting supplies donated.....

Meanwhile as John, an idiot has been arrested but currently released pending... while others have been spotted starting fires.... I'd have doused in them in water from the Chopper that spotted them...

I guess it is not easy to get the right sort of equipment and skills required... I imagine the chopper pilots need incredible skill to scoop up sacks of water and deliver them to the moors.... there are reservoirs in the area but they are surrounded by trees and other hazards.
I know someone locally suggested fire planes like abroad but again imagine the skill needed to come in over the reservoirs / drop down / scoop up water / and fly out without hitting trees etc... would be phenomenal... or they would have to fly out to the irish sea or to the derwent reservoirs... all adding considerable time to getting the water to the area.

[Bonefishblues]

A huge Chinook might be very visible, but would be of limited utility in this situation

[pwa]

The reservoirs in the Belmont area are easily accessible for helicopters but not planes.

[Cyril Haearn]

How do fires start? Are discarded glass bottles a significant cause? Discarded cigarettes, smouldering camp fires?

a long time ago they scrambled us to fight a fire on east falkland. we have no idea whether one of the patrols started it or how long it had been going but peat fires are a git to deal with and we were there for hours. we used to get a lot of range fires as well from stray rounds setting the grass alight sometimes from the muzzle blast from our weapons.

locally what they call quarry hill has been set alight twice last week, most likely kids for that one though.

a common cause of moorland fires is cigarettes thrown from car windows.

Fires can smoulder underground and emerge later
Did you cycle on the Falklands?

[reohn2]

The reservoirs in the Belmont area are easily accessible for helicopters but not planes.

The big reservoirs are on the the Rivington side of the moor nearer to the fires and are big expanses of water,I know that area like the back of my hand from cycling and walking over many,many years.
Chinhooks(the army and air force may have other helicopters suited to the task to I'd have thought) can lift an enormous weight and I shouldn't think they'd have much trouble scooping water from either of the big two reservoirs Lower Rivington or Anglezake or the Yarrow and would be good useful practice if they needed it
It doesn't seem well organised at all IMO.
There was a fire fighter openly interviewed and another not wanting to be name tonight on the local BBC news,both claimed their services were under manned,under resoursed and badly organised at top level.
These are the kind of situations where the army should be supporting overwhelmed and under resourced local emergency services,after all it is a war zone but the enemy is fire.

[Postboxer]

I was wondering if the fire service had, or ever consider hiring, refrigerated trucks to cool off in, I suppose the fire engines may have amazing air conditioning in but they aren't exactly roomy inside. I'm struggling in this heat, I managed a 65 mile ride last Tuesday but was absolutely boiling by the end of it. I'm struggling to hang out the laundry whilst wearing shorts and T-shirt, fighting fires on tricky terrain must be unbearably hot.

[reohn2]

I'm wondering that if they had shorter shifts times and there were more of them

[PDQ Mobile]

It´s a terrible job fighting such a fire especially in this heat in all the heavy clothing.
The cost of such a fire is enormous, both monetarily to us all as a society, and to the wildlife and people caught up in it.
Sadly most "wild" fires (in my experience) are started deliberately, often by "farmers", who show little regard for the welfare of others, or the property of others in this particular regard.

It has long been my opinion that harsher penalties should be enforced where possible; make an example.
It is after all criminal damage at the end of the day! Hit them where it really hurts!!! Pay the whole costs, plus fines, plus grant/subsidy reductions.

Education has helped in S Wales where children were sometimes the culprits. They have sometimes destroyed the woodland enviroment that would have been a useful resource for them in their future.
Helping them see that has helped I think.
Which is an encouraging thought.

[crazydave789]

How do fires start? Are discarded glass bottles a significant cause? Discarded cigarettes, smouldering camp fires?

a long time ago they scrambled us to fight a fire on east falkland. we have no idea whether one of the patrols started it or how long it had been going but peat fires are a git to deal with and we were there for hours. we used to get a lot of range fires as well from stray rounds setting the grass alight sometimes from the muzzle blast from our weapons.

locally what they call quarry hill has been set alight twice last week, most likely kids for that one though.

a common cause of moorland fires is cigarettes thrown from car windows.

Fires can smoulder underground and emerge later
Did you cycle on the Falklands?

there were some rather dodgy early mountain bikes we could hire from MPA but not so many places you could take them apart from down to mare harbour to find the penguins - which stink summit rotten when there's more of them in the colony than zulus at rorkes drift.

I suppose there are small areas you can ride around but its not geared up for two wheeled travel and defo not touring as everything has to come thousands of miles so they probably still think purple is this years colour for your anodised bolts, to go out on patrols we either took the supply boats or helicopters. the locals use 4x4s or quads, over in west island they used horses a lot. vast minefields around stanley and the rest of the islands too. they get harder to clear every year as the mines shift so the maps are useless and being plastic they have to be sifted out. riding on one wouldn't do your spoke count much good. watching the penguins play football with them was entertaining though.

found this but whoever wrote it has zero idea about what the reality is, https://awe365.com/guide-to-falkland_is ... -holidays/

[thirdcrank]

Obviously different temperatures involved, but I could imagine that as this situation is fairly rare, maintaining a big capability to deal with it is rather like clearing snow.

As for the welfare of those involved, I fancy it will be basic. I doubt if the firefighters and troops are as well fed as the media types up there. I'm certain their allowances will be a tiny %age of what politicians claim.

[pwa]

The reservoirs in the Belmont area are easily accessible for helicopters but not planes.

The big reservoirs are on the the Rivington side of the moor nearer to the fires and are big expanses of water,I know that area like the back of my hand from cycling and walking over many,many years.
Chinhooks(the army and air force may have other helicopters suited to the task to I'd have thought) can lift an enormous weight and I shouldn't think they'd have much trouble scooping water from either of the big two reservoirs Lower Rivington or Anglezake or the Yarrow and would be good useful practice if they needed it
It doesn't seem well organised at all IMO.
There was a fire fighter openly interviewed and another not wanting to be name tonight on the local BBC news,both claimed their services were under manned,under resoursed and badly organised at top level.
These are the kind of situations where the army should be supporting overwhelmed and under resourced local emergency services,after all it is a war zone but the enemy is fire.

I know the area too. That water is normally considered valuable drinking water for the Liverpool area, isn't it? But I'm pretty sure the reservoirs would be too confined for one of those fixed wing scooping aircraft.

[reohn2]

I know the area too. That water is normally considered valuable drinking water for the Liverpool area, isn't it?

It is.
What's your point?

But I'm pretty sure the reservoirs would be too confined for one of those fixed wing scooping aircraft.

Agreed.
I would've thought helicopters are particularly well suited to dowsing such fires, and the more of them the better.
The are plenty of flat fields not far away for refuelling,it's a job the armed forces would lap up as a training exercise whilst providing a service to the community and wildlife.

[RickH]

I'm wondering that if they had shorter shifts times and there were more of them

It would probably take too long to recruit & train them!

With current staffing levels (as a result of years of cuts) they would probably have to pretty much abandon other firefighting duties to do that at present. They have got firefighters in from other parts - Blackpool & Tyne and Wear are two that I know of.

Ironically, living halfway up the side of Winter Hill I need to watch the TV coverage to see anything. The only thing affecting us is road closures & the regular thudding of the chopper flying around. I think Chorley & over that way have had most of the smoke problems.

[Cyril Haearn]

Scooping up water with a bucket while flying might be harder in real life than in adventure films