Skiddling While Home Burns
As I write, at lunchtime on July 20th, wildfires are raging across many areas of the UK. Millfield Gliding Field, just a short hop across the border is ablaze and the A697 is closed because of the resulting smoke. Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh has been burning since yesterday evening, a huge fire has taken hold in the Cairngorms and dozens of conflagrations have damaged large tracts of land further south.
Dozens of lives were lost - some British - in fires across Spain, while France, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Norway have also suffered devastating wildfires this month. Mediterranean Europe is no stranger to soaring summer temperatures and uncontrolled fires, but when regions as far north and as driech as North Wales, the Scottish Highlands and Norway are going up in smoke, there’s clearly something extraordinary happening.That something is climate change, and like it or not, it’s only likely to get worse. It’s reckoned that around 85 percent of uncontrolled wildfires are cause by human activity, with lightening strikes being the most common natural trigger. Of those caused by human activity, some are deliberate, some (probably the majority) are careless and some will be simply unfortunate.
Thoughtlessly discarded cigarette butts are a common cause. Even in the street, there no excuse for throwing them on the ground. It’s littering, it’s illegal and it’s anti-social, but for some reason there’s very little stigma attached to it. In town it’s inconsiderate. In the countryside, especially when the earth is as parched and the vegetation as tinder-dry as it is this summer, it’s dangerous. Another common trigger is campfires and barbecues, especially the disposable ones that sit on the ground and remain too hot to handle for hours after you’ve eaten your half-cooked sausages and are often left behind for this reason. It only takes a spark from one of these to set things going, and in these conditions, fire spreads unbelievably fast. If there’s a wind blowing, you’ll struggle to outrun it.
Advice from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on preventing wildfires includes:
- Skip campfires completely when the risk of wildfires is high
- Use raised barbecues (on bricks or a dedicated stand)
- Extinguish coals completely (submerge in plenty of water until they are cold to touch)
- Pack out all rubbish (you should do this anyway - not just in summer when the risk of ignition by glass bottles is a concern)
- Dispose of cigarettes safely
So - while it lasts, enjoy the weather. Personally, I can’t get enough of it and am like a pig in clover. But stay safe, use yer noggin and unlike Emperor Nero who was accused of fiddling while Rome burned, go skiddling.
