Is the wildfire a threat? Get the latest update on the ongoing Clydach Dingle wildfire from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
The Head of Operations addresses the complex, deep-seated peat fire that has been burning for several weeks. Find out about the challenges crews are facing, the techniques they are using to tackle the blaze, and the multi-agency partnerships in place.
Discover why the fire has been so difficult to contain, the impact of weather conditions, and reassurance regarding public safety. Learn about resource deployment and the ongoing investigation into the fire's cause.
00:00Can you just introduce yourself for the panel please?
00:02I'm Matt Jones and I'm the Head of Operations for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
00:06Can you give us an update onto the incident in the background there and the status of the wildfire at the moment please?
00:12The service has been dealing with a complex incident for the past several weeks working with partners to deal with this very challenging incident.
00:21The fire you see behind me is a very deep seated complex incident which is approximately 150 hectares
00:28with a fire front of about one kilometre which has been challenging for our crews to address with the complex weather
00:35which has been occurring over the past few weeks.
00:38So the fire has been going for a little while now, how is the Fire and Rescue Service tackling this fire?
00:43Yeah so this is a deep seated peat fire and we've been monitoring the situation now we're using a multitude of techniques with partners to tackle this.
00:50The terrain is extremely challenging and the area so again this is likely to be ongoing for several days
00:56but we're using a multitude of techniques to address the issue.
01:00Can you talk to us about the multi-agency partners that are involved in the response to this fire?
01:04We're working in close partnership with Gwent Police, Welsh Government, the local authorities, Natural Resources, Wales
01:12to actually address the issue here then and we're coming up with a multi-agency strategy to address the issue
01:18but also to address the fire to ensure that it doesn't continue for any further periods of time.
01:24And on that, how much longer do you think the fire is going to be burning for?
01:29We're addressing this now with quite a robust tactical plan working together with partners
01:35and I'm confident within the coming days we would have suppressed the main area of fire
01:40but it's likely we would be here for the next 7 to 10 days addressing what is a very complex incident.
01:46And should the public be worried about any risk to life or property?
01:49At this stage there's no risk to life or property and we would like to give members of the public the confidence
01:54that the fire rescue service and partners are working tirelessly to address this matter
02:00and ensure their safety are at most priority.
02:03Can you talk to us about resources? There have been questions from the members of the public
02:07about why there hasn't been a helicopter or a water bowser up on the incident site as yet?
02:11Over the past few weeks we've deployed multitude of specialist appliances and specialist vehicles up on the site.
02:18The issue we have here this is a deep-seated incident with complex ground
02:23so a helicopter itself would not penetrate the surface to address the fire.
02:28We've been hearing reports that this fire has been burning for around four weeks now.
02:33Can you give us an update as to why the fire service hasn't actually been able to contain the fire up until this point?
02:38Yes, this has been a complex deep-seated fire and the ground has been really challenging for crews to tackle
02:44and obviously for us to get resources to the scenes of operations.
02:47We have suppressed the fire on several occasions but due to the unprecedented weather we've seen with the warm temperatures
02:52and how deep-seated the fire is. The fire has ignited and anything continue to burn below the ground.
02:59So what is within the peat which has caused further challenge for crews.
03:03So this has been a reoccurrence for us as opposed to one single incident.
03:07And can you give us any comment on how the fire started?
03:10At this phase we don't know that but we will be working closely with our partners Gwent Police to establish the cause and origin of the fire.
03:17What we would ask is if members of the public have any information on this that they ring 101 with any further information to support us
03:25understanding the cause of this fire.
03:27Matt, can you talk to us about how the weather has been impacting the scene of the fire?
03:31With what you can see now is obviously you can see rain has come in.
03:35Sadly this is having no effect on the area you can see.
03:38We've just done some monitoring up at scene now and we've done some probing of the ground which has shown temperatures over 600 degrees already in the ground.
03:46So while it is raining at the moment this is having no effect on suppressing the fire.
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