FOI 1902 - Wildfires

1.    How many wildfires did your fire brigade deal with from 2017 to 2022? Please break down your response by year, size of fire, date, cause and if possible, location.

Please find attached a spreadsheet providing this information. We have provided this based on the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and National Operational Guidance (NOG) definition of a wildfire which includes all incidents which meet the following criteria: 

1. The incident was classified as an outdoor fire and

2. The fire covers at least 1 hectare of damage or

3. At least 4 appliances/resources attended the incident or

4. Length of attendance at the incident was at least 6 hours

FOI 1902 data Q1

2.    Please let me know any new equipment your service has purchased or plans to purchase in the last 5 years to combat wildfires.

Please find attached an equipment list which summarises our assets. This is provided to the Peak District Fire Operations Group. The items highlighted in yellow were purchased during the last five years.

FOI 1902 data Q2

3.    If possible, please let me know the annual cost of dealing with wildfires to your brigade 2017 to 2022. Please break the figure down by each year.

We are unable to provide the specific cost associated with our response to the incidents disclosed in question 1 as we do not record this information. Resources and vehicles which are deployed from Wholetime fire stations are covered by a single budget for all ongoing emergency response and staff at these fire stations, therefore it is not possible to determine which of these funds should be apportioned specifically to these incidents. 

The service allocates an annual budget of £8000 for the replenishment and maintenance of wildfire equipment and PPE. 

The service allocates an annual budget of £3100 for annual training in relation to wildfire incidents. 

The service made an additional £130,000 investment in the procurement of additional wildfire equipment in 2021/22. This includes all of the items marked in yellow on the attachment to question 1, with the exception of the Water Bowser based at Ellesmere Port. This was procured via a separate project as its use it not solely for wildfire incidents.