Event
The North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (NYF&RS) was first called out to the site of the fire at 18:30 on 11 August 2025. [2] The fire crews created a firebreak, but by Tuesday morning (the 12 August), they found the fire had jumped the firebreak and covered an area of 300 square metres (3,200 sq ft), which by the afternoon of the same day, covered an area of 1-square-kilometre (0.39 sq mi). [3] By 13 August, the fire covered an estimated area of 5 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi) with 20 fire crews were in attendance; the fire was declared a major incident. [4] [5] Local residents were advised to close their windows due to smoke and the general public were asked to stay away from the area. [6] [7] So far, crews from the NYF&RS have attended from based locations which are quite distant from the fire such as Tadcaster, Bedale, and Bentham, which is 166 kilometres (103 mi) distant from the fire. [8]
As the event carried on into its fourth day, the NYF&RS announced that explosions may be heard in the area as the site was an old military training range, and the fire may detonate old munitions (the fire is near to the RAF base at Fylingdales, which was built on the old training area). [9] [10] A British Army explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team were in attendance because of the unexploded ordnance, and a ban on live ammunition firing is in effect at Catterick Training Area due to a similar risk of moorland fires. [11] A helicopter and a drone have been used to survey the fire; the drone was supplied by the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service. [10] [5] The aerial footage allowed the fire crews to work out a containment procedure due to the threat of explosions, and local farmers have been helping by spraying slurry onto the peatland to create firebreaks. [12] [i] The helicopters have been used to drop water on the fire. [14]
The North York Moors Railway, which passes to the west of the seat of the fire, announced that they would not run steam trains along their line because of the fire risk of causing another fire at their lineside which would stretch the resources of the NYF&RS. [15] The fire closed a campsite has caused some evacuations and has diverted coast-to-coast walkers away from the affected area. [16]
On 14 August, the NYF&RS stated that they expected the fire to burn for "a number of days". [10] By 15 August, the smell of smoke could be detected in York some 56 kilometres (35 mi) away, and the following day, it had reached Skipton which is 80 miles (130 km) distant from the fire. [17] The fire has destroyed an area of special scientific interest (SSSI), and one expert stated that the moor could take "many decades, centuries or even thousands of years" to recover. [14] On 21 August, the NYF&RS predicted the fire would burn for another two weeks, and by the morning of 24 August, the fire's reach covered an estimated 20 kilometres (12 mi). [18] [19] During the night of 25 August, the fire spread northwards, and as a result, most of the staff working at Woodsmith Mine were evacuated and heavy smoke was affecting a section of the A171 road near to the Robin Hood's Bay turnoff. [20]
By 27 August, the fire covered an area of 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi) with 60 firefighters and ten appliances deployed in an effort to combat the fire. The NYF&RS have declared that there has been at least 18 explosions of buried ammunition in the moor that has been detonated by the fire. [21] The NYF&RS have asked for national assistance in fighting the fire as many of the crews attempting to tackle the blaze are on-call firefighters, who have been having to take time off from their regular jobs to fight the fire. [22] Besides North Yorkshire firefighters, crews have attended from County Durham and Darlington, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Cleveland and Humberside and as far away as London. [23] [24]
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