Lives 'will be lost' unless UK does more to combat wildfires, committee chair says
File on 4 Investigates has seen figures from the National Fire Chiefs Council showing that 2026 set a new all-time high, with 1,350 wildfires in England and Wales, up by more than 300 on last year and more than 1,000 on 2024. Records for the number of reported wildfires were also broken in 2022 and 2025. Baroness Brown said the CCC, formed in 2008, has been telling the government for years that the UK is "not prepared for the changing climate".
- ▪File on 4 Investigates has seen figures from the National Fire Chiefs Council showing that 2026 set a new all-time high, with 1,350 wildfires in England and Wales, up by more than 300 on last year and more than 1,000 on 2024.
- ▪Records for the number of reported wildfires were also broken in 2022 and 2025.
- ▪Baroness Brown said the CCC, formed in 2008, has been telling the government for years that the UK is "not prepared for the changing climate".
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| Publication time | Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:45:48 GMT |
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Lives 'will be lost' unless UK does more to combat wildfires, committee chair saysImage source, EPA/ShutterstockImage caption, The aftermath of a wildfire in Dunwich Heath, Suffolk, during the summerByAdrian Goldberg and Fergus Hewison, File on 4 InvestigatesPublished3 minutes agoLives "will be lost" unless more is done to combat the increasing risk of wildfires, the chair of the UK's Climate Change Committee (CCC) has said after a record number of blazes this summer.Baroness Brown told BBC File on 4 Investigates "not enough action" had been taken in light of predictions the UK is facing longer, drier summers because of global warming.Earlier this year, one man died in a wildfire in Gloucestershire, while 19 homes were destroyed in Stourbridge, near Birmingham, and villagers were…
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