Dartmoor remains vulnerable to potentially-devastating fires despite recent rainfall, the moor’s guardians have been told.
A major campaign was launched on social media at the height of the summer calling on Dartmoor’s thousands of visitors to take more care over potential flare-ups.
The Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) bans the use of disposable barbecues, along with open campfires and camping stoves, across its open moorland. Park rangers conduct regular patrols and have put up prominent signage to enforce the rules.
As temperatures soared during what has been listed as the moor’s driest summer on record, visitors were encouraged to bring a cold picnic instead. There were also warnings against dropping cigarette ends or discarding glass bottles.
The government brought in a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues during heatwave and drought conditions to further protect landscapes like Dartmoor, but a meeting of the DNPA heard calls for a complete ban.
The authority’s chief executive Tom Surrey said the call was being made across the UK’s ‘family’ of 15 national parks.
A Dartmoor Wildfire Plan is part of the work of the moor’s Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) project, with more than 110 kilometres of firebreaks created across the moor among a raft of new measures.
Authority member Guy Pannell told the meeting: “It is almost a miracle that we haven’t had a major fire on the moor this summer.”
But authority chair Will Dracup replied: “The moor is still incredibly dry and the fire risk is still very much there. People still need to behave very responsibly.”
James Wright, who manages the Dartmoor FiPL project, said his team was looking at ways of supporting the moor’s farming community which had been hit by a series of setbacks including the Covid pandemic and the recent outbreak of the bluetongue virus.
Hundreds of animals, mainly sheep, have been reported dead across Devon, which is said to be the county worst hit by the virus.
FiPL projects include one to get children out on to the moor to learn about its farms and food production. Elsewhere, a wheelchair accessible trail has been created at Brimpts Farm near Dartmeet and a dry stone walling competition has brought some of the country’s top craftspeople to the moor.
“The project is really making quite a substantial difference to Dartmoor as a place,” said Mr Dracup.
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