Wildfire smoke rises across open moorland, highlighting the growing challenge of managing fire risk in rural areas
Farmers and landowners should be given greater freedom to use controlled burning to reduce wildfire risk, rural campaigners have said, after an investigation uncovered major gaps in fire service equipment, training and availability.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is calling on the government to ease restrictions on controlled burning, arguing that removing dead vegetation and other fuel loads could stop smaller fires escalating into major incidents.
Freedom of Information responses from fire services in England and Wales found that more than half of those providing relevant data had no specialist wildfire PPE. On-call engines across responding services were also unavailable for almost a third of the year on average.
Meanwhile, 17 of 22 services recorded more wildfires in the first six months of 2026 than during the whole of 2024. The CLA contacted 47 fire services, with 29 responding.
Among the 22 services which supplied relevant data, 12 said they had no specialist wildfire PPE. The organisation said conventional firefighting clothing, designed mainly for structural fires, can be too hot and heavy when worn for long periods across open countryside in summer conditions.
Provision varied significantly between areas, with Surrey reporting more than 800 wildfire PPE kits, while Kent and West Yorkshire said every firefighter had access to a set.
Access to other specialist equipment was also uneven. Eight of the 22 services providing relevant information said they had no drones, despite the technology being used to detect, map and monitor wildfires.
Some services also reported limited access to specialist vehicles capable of reaching rough or remote terrain.
The findings come amid a sharp rise in wildfire incidents across many of the responding areas. In Berkshire and Shropshire, wildfires reached a five-year high in the first six months of 2026 alone.
CLA president Gavin Lane said: “We ask firefighters to risk their lives in conditions most of us would not go near. So we should be giving them the equipment, training and support to come back safely.”
He added: “Yet some are being sent into wildfires in heavy kit made for burning buildings, worn for hours across open ground in summer heat. Some have had little more than online training.”
Training levels also varied sharply. In Cheshire, 8.62% of employees were reported as trained to undertake wildfire operations, while Cleveland said just five members of staff, equivalent to 1.2%, were qualified to provide tactical advice or command wildfire incidents.
By contrast, Durham, Kent and East Sussex reported that all firefighters and officers were trained to undertake wildfire operations.
The CLA also said much of the training available is delivered online, limiting opportunities for practical experience in real wildfire conditions.
Response times were another concern highlighted by the FOI findings. Nearly half of the services which supplied relevant figures failed, on average, to meet their target response times during 2025 and 2026.
Thirteen of 17 services reported at least one incident in 2026 where crews took more than 30 minutes to arrive.
The CLA’s analysis recorded one response exceeding 21 hours in Northamptonshire, while other lengthy waits included 81 minutes in Cumbria and 59 minutes in North Yorkshire.
In Berkshire, where specific wildfire response figures were supplied, 16% of incidents were attended within the target time, with crews taking as long as 43 minutes to arrive.
Engine availability was also a recurring issue, with on-call engines across the 29 responding services unavailable for an average of 32% of the year. In Surrey, West Sussex and Cleveland, average unavailability stood at 67%, 58% and 52% respectively.
Some individual engines were unavailable for much longer periods. Three Essex engines, based at Canvey, Braintree and Dovercourt, were unavailable for more than 90% of the year.
The CLA also pointed to shortages during major wildfire incidents. In Greater Manchester, on-call engine unavailability rose to 19.3% in July when a major incident was declared at Dovestone and Saddleworth Moor, compared with less than 4% in every other month.
At nearby Mossley, the engine was unavailable for 26.6% of the month, more than five times its annual average.
The organisation also highlighted problems in Dorset during the Holt Heath and Newton Heath wildfires in August 2025. During the week a major incident was declared, both Swanage engines recorded their poorest availability of the year, with one unavailable for 95.2% of the month.
The CLA is calling for more funding, staffing, training and specialist equipment to improve wildfire preparedness. It also wants greater use of controlled burning as part of a wider approach to wildfire prevention, arguing that vegetation management can reduce the amount of material available to fuel a blaze.
Lane said Britain should learn from countries with more experience of managing large wildfires.
“We also need to look beyond our own borders. Places like California and Australia have spent years learning how to fight and prevent large fires.”
He added: “Fire services need the people, training and specialist equipment to protect communities. And government must lift the ban on controlled burning, so landowners have the freedom to reduce fuel loads before a blaze becomes a disaster.”
The CLA said improving fire service capability should go hand in hand with giving farmers and land managers greater scope to reduce vegetation and other fuel loads before wildfires take hold.