Completed petition Stop "Controlled Burning" in Wales
The recent Mynydd Mawr, Gwynedd, fire has highlighted the problem with so-called "controlled burning". This was lit within the allowed period (1st October to 31st March) despite recent dry weather and strong winds, and when many birds have already started nesting.
North Wales Fire Service described Mynydd Mawr as "quite devastated" by the fire. The smoke affected local residents, and the fire service described how valuable resources from as far as South Wales had to be enlisted to help.
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This fire covered an area of 100,000 sq m at one stage and is not an isolated incident.
Last year there were over 2000 grassfires in Wales; over 75% of these deliberately lit.
These fires cause:
-Risks to the health and safety of our fire crews, local residents and property
-Dangerous diversion and monopolisation of fire crews putting lives elsewhere at risk
-Unacceptable cost to taxpayers into the hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the high burden on fire crews
-Release of smoke and carbon at a time of a climate crisis
-Impact on nesting birds and other wildlife such as increasingly threatened adder during a biodiversity crisis. The 1st October to 31st March were colder wetter months in Wales but our climate is already changing with drier warmer weather shifting wildlife's emergence and breeding seasons. The RSPB has called for an end to upland peatland burning due to the conservation and climate concerns.
We call on the Welsh Government to stop "controlled burning" now.
This petition was considered by the Petitions Committee
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