Fires On North Yorks Moors

The BBC is reporting that firefighters have been battling a number of moorland fires in North Yorkshire and that Wales has been plagued with grass fires over the past month.

The Yorkshire fires started on Sunday afternoon in the North Yorkshire Moors areas to the east of the Dales near Masham with dry conditions and wind helping to keep them burning.

The beeb quotes a spokesman for the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service as saying that:

"The countryside fire risk index is high at the moment, meaning that there is a high risk of fire because the undergrowth and moorland is very dry.

"Visitors to the countryside are being urged to be very careful and vigilant where fire safety is concerned.

"We are asking people not to light fires in any form, not to bring portable barbecues into the countryside, and also to be careful with dropped smokers' materials."

More at news.bbc.co.uk

Meanwhile a rising number of grass fires, thought to be started mainly by youngsters, have been a major problem in South Wales and, last week, across 700 square metres of National Trust land near Conwy.

See news.bbc.co.uk for more details.