The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) reissued urgent public safety advice on Friday 11 April 2025, saying wildfires are increasingly likely in some parts of the country that weekend. As of that morning, fire and rescue services in England and Wales had responded to 380 wildfires since the start of the year, against 188 for the same period in 2022, a year the NFCC describes as a record year for wildfires1.
The NFCC said a particularly dry March followed by warmer-than-average April temperatures had produced a number of significant wildfires across the UK over the previous fortnight. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service issued "extreme" wildfire warnings for Thursday 10 April covering south-west, eastern, central and northern Scotland, and firefighters in Northern Ireland battled wildfires over a number of days. The NFCC also published an image of a wildfire in Cumbria from the weekend of 5 and 6 April 2025. It said the Met Office had warned that temperatures were set to peak in London and the South East on Friday1.
The council said most wildfires are caused by human activity, accidentally and some deliberately, and that services are responding to wildfires earlier in the season and typically lasting longer because of prolonged higher temperatures than the historic average. It said wildfires have traditionally been limited to mainly rural areas but can occur almost anywhere in the country, including on the rural-urban interface, such as in London in summer 20221.
Under the operational guidance definition used by English and Welsh fire and rescue services, a wildfire meets one or more of the following criteria1:
| Criterion | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Flame length | Sustained flame length of more than 1.5 metres |
| Resources committed | At least four fire and rescue service appliances or resources |
| Duration | Resources committed for at least six hours |
| Threat | Serious threat to life, environment, property and infrastructure |
Phil Garrigan, chair of the NFCC, said:
"We want people to enjoy this lovely weather, we are just asking that they take extra care. One inconsiderate action or small mistake can have huge consequences when it comes to wildfires, so we are asking that people follow this important advice so that they can keep themselves and everyone else safe."
The NFCC's public safety advice asks the public to avoid disposable barbecues in open countryside, parks and moorland areas; not to discard cigarettes, matches or glass bottles, which can ignite dry vegetation; and to follow local authority guidance on fire risks and restrictions. It asks anyone who sees signs of fire to call 999 and ask for the Fire and Rescue Service, and anyone who notices suspicious behaviour or sees someone intentionally starting a fire to contact the Police immediately or report information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 1111.
Why it matters for households
The advice applies across the UK, with the sharpest warnings in Scotland and recent fire activity in Northern Ireland, Cumbria and elsewhere. The NFCC says wildfires can occur almost anywhere, not only in the countryside, and that the risk is raised by dry ground and warm spring weather. Its guidance covers everyday behaviour outdoors, including barbecues, smoking and glass, and points households to local authority restrictions where these are in place. The council also directs the public to its Wildfire Aware webpages to understand the risks of fires in the open1. Practical background on preventing grass and moor fires is set out in the guide to wildfires and grass fires, with more on barbecues and wildfire risk in dry weather and the wider heatwaves and drought section.
What happens next
The NFCC said it is calling for a long-term cross-government response and sustained investment so that fire and rescue services can meet emerging threats, and it points to its Wildfire Position Statement setting out its asks to decision makers. No further warning dates beyond the Scottish warnings for Thursday 10 April and the weekend of 11 April have been reported1.
Wildfires and Grass Fires
Barbecues and Wildfire Risk
