Now comes the downside, grass fires. First, a major one, which is still happening in moorlands of Greater Manchester. Saddleworth Moor (which lends its name to the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency) has been burning since Sunday evening and is now classed as a major incident by Greater Manchester Police and the City of Manchester Fire Service
Saddleworth Moor Fire now a “major incident”
And at the same time, not too far from where I live, a grass fire caused the closure of the Vale of Rheidol small guage railway line so that the fire service could attend.
What are the major causes of these fires? I am sure the tinder is quite dry this time of year to help start the fires. Do you have very many lightning-induced fires? Or are they mostly human-caused, cigarettes, barbecues, kids horsing around, etc? My friend Marty’s next trip over here will, among other things, bring over a lightning detector. He got one for himself, and of course Ray already has one. With all the heat you are getting, I would think all that daytime heating would help generate some air-mass thunderstorms, unless you get stable marine breezes that would inhibit/stifle development. Thanks, Kevin
The main priority for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue at the moment is to put the fires out. The investigation into the cause will not start until that has happened and will probably involve Greater Manchester Police as well as the fire service. It is also possible that Tameside council (the area of local government that covers that area) may be brought it to establish what management controls need to be brought in to prevent another fire of this magnitude.
I think it is more than likely to be human related, as this heat has been very dry heat (humidity levels have been very low over the last few weeks) however it will be for the police and fire service to determine whether this was malicious (arson) or just an accident (that the people who caused it feel ashamed about and don’t want to come forward to admit it)
Thanks Harry. Let me know what they find out as to the cause. How many days with lightning do you get there? I wouldn’t think very many. Marty got me a lightning detector that he will bring over to me next time he visits. Ray already has one and he likes it. You probably don’t get enough lightning to make it worth it. Thanks
That’s a very good question actually as I cannot find any actual recorded data. All I know is that in the seven years we lived at our own house I can genuinely only recall one thunderstorm (and that was in October 2014)