Welsh sheep farmer shares case study on his experience of wildfires

NSA Chair Elect and NSA Wales/Cymru Region Trustee, Paul Wozencraft has shared a case study on a recent wildfire he experienced.

Paul is a sheep farmer from Rhayader, Powys. 

This case study is written by Paul, from his own perspective.

Upon reflection, they say a week is a long time in politics. Well, it certainly seems the same in agriculture after the past week. We had a very enjoyable AGM in Scotland at the Moredun site, followed by a board meeting the next day. Little did I know that, within a few hours, a great big hill fire would break out back home at the farm in Wales.

On the journey back to Edinburgh Airport, my phone suddenly started pinging like mad with messages and calls to say a major fire had broken out on the other side of the mountain and was heading over the skyline towards our adjoining block of mountain land, where the hill flock are currently grazing. I have to say, modern technology really does come into its own at times like this, with friends and neighbours sending videos of the blaze. It looked ferocious, with flames reported to be at least 20ft high. You feel quite helpless being so far from home.

When I arrived back in Wales, it was gone 11pm on the Wednesday evening, and the sky was glowing red with flames. The fire looked to be a couple of miles wide, stretching right across the mountain. I had to assess how the sheep were going to survive, and it looked like I had at least until first light to get up there and try to move them to safety.

We waited until around 4am before making our way up the mountain. The challenge was trying to gather the sheep. All the sorting and handling pens are situated at the summit, so the sheep were used to being driven up to that point. The problem now was that we had to bring them down the mountain, and that part was still covered in bracken and gorse. With sheep being sheep, they knew all the escape routes to avoid being caught – if only they knew what was above them, roaring down the mountain like a lion.

Over a couple of attempts, we managed to get most of them to safety, just as the fire was rapidly closing in. We are still a few short, although some have been spotted since running around, so clearly, they managed to find somewhere safe, probably tucked away between some rocks, I suspect.

On reflection, this disaster highlights how farming practices have been shaped by government policy over the years, with under-grazing of these mountains allowing vegetation to build up and effectively creating rocket fuel ready to feed a fire of this scale. With so many wildfires across the UK this summer, each devolved nation needs to develop a strategy to significantly reduce the risk. There will always be a risk, but surely more mitigation measures can be put in place, such as firebreaks. Alongside this, these mountains need to be grazed more heavily through the winter to reduce the fuel load going into summer.

The governments want more trees; well, this fire has literally ripped through a dense conifer plantation covering at least 100 acres, as well as a majestic oak wood that has been there for generations. It was a haven for flora and fauna, alongside some more recent planting of native trees over the past 20 years. It will be interesting to see what survives from all of that, but the upshot is that it was lost in a matter of hours. As we all know, fire has no boundaries.

As for the here and now, the hill has been completely burned to a crisp. There will be absolutely no feed available up there over winter, and it will be at least next May before the sheep can return.

That now means the added burden of bringing the hill flock down onto the inbye land, which is already looking like the Sahara Desert, so more mouths are the last thing we need.

We will have to try to find some winter keep somewhere to tide us over; otherwise, the feed bill is going to be horrendous. To top it all off, I phoned the insurance company today, only to be told that the fences destroyed by the fire aren’t covered – another blow to the belt that just keeps on giving!