Several acres on fire last evening apparently. Fire crews saying they’d be unlikely to get it under control by sunset and Ilkley residents advised to stay indoors.

Was going to ride there today!

Looks like it is smouldering now, although houses right by the moor are still evacuated. There are 2 fires, one at white wells and the other on the bingley side

It’s early in the season for fires isn’t it but saying that I can’t remember the last substantial rain we had. Main reason being is we’ve got a few roof leaks spotted previously on the new build and we can’t find the bastids now!

On another note two ladies were out with a load of kids in the local woods on Thursday with a couple of disposable bar b’s cooking sausages. Looked great fun but the whole area seemed very dry and I did wonder what they were going to do with them post feeding!

I nearly headed up there yesterday afternoon with the bike. From the photos online it looks bad 😢

We were up there walking with family yesterday. A walk in the morning then lunch at the cow and calf and we could see the smoke as we started to walk back down to Ilkley. By the time we came out in the town there were lots of fire engines heading up and much more smoke. It was very dry up there.

50 acres ablaze and 14 fire crews responded yesterday, looks like it’s under control now but fire chief saying there’s a chance it’ll flare up again when temps peak this afternoon

It’s fairly normal this time of year, long dry grass from the winter, often a dry spell combined with the Easter holidays. It’s just getting reported after last year’s big fires.

BBC lunchtime news today suggesting that it was started deliberately and that arrests had been made!

Confirmed here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-48003456

Harrogate news also saying that it may have been arson and that 3 lads have been arrested.

another day of this bollox 🚒 🙁

Could see it from addingham when out wit the family walking yesterday. Look huge, up by the cow and calf.

Large fire on Marsden moor, started by bbq
BBC News – Marsden Moor fire ‘started by barbecue’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-48012193

Saw the Marsden Moor fire earlier. Had to drive along the M62, J20 – 22 and there’s a large section along there that’s like driving through yellow fog, it stinks. 🙁

There’s at least one other area of moorland over that way on fire too, I was riding round Calderdale and could see a couple of separate plumes of smoke. It’s SO dry over there. Peak District too actually. The gravel bike is absolutely coated in dust.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/moorland-fire-denshaw-saddleworth-marsden-16162334.amp?__twitter_impression=true

Flippin’ heck. At least it’s due to rain for about a week from tomorrow.

Got a nasty feeling that deliberately starting moorland fires has now become “a thing” after last year’s high-profile incidents.

Given that the fire risk is clear and that they aren’t good for the environment (not recycleable, requires energy to make and releases CO2) disposable BBQs probably need to be ditched (if the supermarkets won’t then they need banning)

Latest Marsden fire is fully understood and sounds like a case of ignorance/stupidity rather than a deliberate act. From the Guardian:

Craig Best, the group’s countryside manager for West Yorkshire, said a “£2 disposable barbecue has turned into a firefighting bill in excess of £10,000” for the charity.

He said the group whose barbecue started the blaze called the fire service when they were unable to put out the flames on Sunday evening. Some of the group waited for the firefighters to arrive and were “quite distressed” as the flames took hold, Best said.

I see a lot of destructive behaviour in Ilkley over the bank hols. People coming in by train for the day, getting pissed and losing control of their senses (if they had any to start with – a lot of them don’t). Same on pretty much any hot summer weekend. By the end of it all, the moor’s on fire and the town is covered in litter and puke, and somebody may have tried to force my garage door (again).

Had to have a word with a group of lads trying to set fire to each other the other day. You know, just for a laugh, because 3rd degree burns are hilarious. Seems they needed advising that it was a bad idea.

How has humanity even survived this long if that’s what people are like?!

Given that the fire risk is clear and that they aren’t good for the environment (not recycleable, requires energy to make and releases CO2) disposable BBQs probably need to be ditched (if the supermarkets won’t then they need banning)

Seems like an obvious candidate for fast-tracking into legislation, but the country will have to continue burning (literally and metaphorically) while Brexit hogs all the political bandwidth.

View this post on Instagram

Impressive sights at work today. Wildfire season is full steam ahead! #firefighter #firefighting #wildfire #scotland #bbcscotlandpics #ukpotd #highlands

A post shared by Iain Brooks (@iainbphoto) on Apr 22, 2019 at 1:17pm PDT

Fire a work mates were at nr Aberlour

And blaenau Ffestiniog was by all accounts. Some “impressive” photos in the article.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48020070

edhornby – I completely agree.

From our house we can see some of the moor fires. Yesterday the smoke coming over our way from Marsden moor looked serious.

Its the same old stuff every warm bank holiday: people letting their dogs roam loose on land with new lambs and ground nesting birds.
People having picnics and bbqs and leaving all their rubbish behind.

Given that the fire risk is clear and that they aren’t good for the environment (not recycleable, requires energy to make and releases CO2) disposable BBQs probably need to be ditched (if the supermarkets won’t then they need banning)

Seems like an obvious candidate for fast-tracking into legislation, but the country will have to continue burning (literally and metaphorically) while Brexit hogs all the political bandwidth.

Actually a very sensible idea.

Go on then, sigh my petition (well sponsor it in the first case.) You only need 9mil signatures in order for it to not be dismissed out of hand.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/258817/sponsors/new?token=ZsL6LbdMHLCKy8xtyX6P

dangeourbrain please correct your link so as we can see what we’re signing. Thanks.

I’ve already signed it. Jesus, what have I put my name to? 🙂

Ah it seems the petition website won’t show content until it’s got 5 sponsors…

From the Email:

Dear Brian Evans,

You’re not done yet!

Forward the email below to your potential supporters.

5 people need to click the link and confirm their support for us to publish your petition.

Once you’ve gained the required number of supporters, we’ll check your petition to make sure it meets the petition standards. If it does, we’ll publish it. This usually takes a week or less, however we have a very large number to check at the moment so it is likely to take longer. Thank you for your patience.

Thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament

———————-

I’ve made a petition – will you sign it?

Click this link to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/258817/sponsors/new?token=ZsL6LbdMHLCKy8xtyX6P

My petition:

Following large scale moorland fires, ban the sale of disposable barbecues

Following the large scale fires and resulting environmental damage over a number of years but especially the last 24 months it is proposed disposable barbecues and other portable, disposable, open fire products should be removed from sale due to the significant fire risk they pose.

Along side the damage caused by the well publicised fires caused by the use of these items (e.g. Marsden Moor, April 2019), many of these items are also discarded and improperly dispsosed of after use presenting a further environmental risk.

I’ve already signed it. Jesus, what have I put my name to?

Oddly they must look at my history as the suggestion it gave was “Make erroneously labelling a casserole with a lid as a pie a criminal offence”

I’ll sign that too. Do you have a link?

Sponsored, well done on setting up this Petition.

Thank you CG & MH.

You never know it might actually get a bit of consideration, I’ll drop my local MP a line too and see what he says, though I expect he’ll ignore it unless whipped.

Local elections coming up so worth a try, just emphasise how much public money and resources are being used.

I rode up the cow and calf climb today and i have to say there wasnt much evidence of littering so well done to local council for clearing up although i suspect it might be a different case on the moor itself. What i did see immediately was dog walkers letting there dogs off the lead the second they put foot on the moor, not sure if that is allowed/etiquette.

Indeed CG, though given his parliamentary record I’m not sure he’d pay any attention. unless the email came from central office.

That said I’m sure the fires play havoc with the grousing later in the year and I imagine that upsets enough tory donors to mean they might well whip for it.

dangeourbrain – I’ve signed your petition.

blader1611 – see my post above regarding dog walkers. I actually asked a couple to pop their dog on a lead. They were lovely and did so immediately when I mentioned ground nesting birds. Also yesterday there were new lambs as in a few minutes old. They don’t run when that tiny, it takes a bit longer to get onto wobbly legs and get a first feed in.