REVEALED: England’s planned wildfire risk programme was never implemented. More than half of fire services surveyed also had no specialist wildfire PPE, while wildfire training was limited in some areas. Fire services need the right equipment and training. But prevention matters too. Land managers must be able to reduce dangerous fuel loads through controlled burning, cutting and grazing. Wildfire resilience starts before the fire engines arrive.

The government's own wildfire prediction tool didn't see it coming. Gamekeepers did. For nearly three weeks the Crowden fire burned through deep peat in the Peak District, creeping toward the Dovestone blaze. Had the two met, vast stretches of moorland would have gone with them. Last week, teams from several shooting estates brought their own equipment onto the hill and worked straight through to dawn. They put out the fire's right flank themselves. The conditions were as bad as moorland gets. The National Gamekeepers' Organisation index had every moorland area at "extreme". Scientists had flagged the "30/30/30" crossover: 30°C, 30mph winds, 30% humidity. The official, government-recognised tool flagged none of it. Machinery cut fuel breaks toward Swineshaw Reservoir. Micklehurst Cricket Club ran food and water up to the line. When the system fell short, the people who manage the moor held it. Read more on our website.