North Yorkshire's worst wildfire at Fylingdale Moor a 'stark warning', Mayor warns

Last summer's fire on Fylingdales Moor, at its height covering 20km, swept across vast swathes of forest and moorland with billowing smoke clouds setting evacuations into play. Now a series of recommendations are laid out by local leaders, around how communications could be improved or in lessons for the future around wildfire response.

And with warnings over a changing climate, there are calls for "stronger resilience, coordination and a more robust approach".

The blaze is believed to have been started by someone cooking using a naked flame.

North Yorkshire's Mayor, David Skaith, is now calling on all supermarkets to stop the sale of disposable barbecues in the region, backing national calls for an all-out ban.

And, as he publishes his own response with deputy mayor Jo Coles into the findings, he said words must be turned into action.

"The Fylingdales Moor fire was a stark warning," they said. "Incidents of this scale can no longer be treated as rare or exceptional."

He commended firefighters’ efforts, with farmers, landowners, and volunteers, as a “defining moment” for Yorkshire, but warned “we cannot rely on goodwill alone”.

"As the risk of wildfires grows, so too must our preparedness."

A debrief was published yesterday by the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS), describing this as one of the biggest incidents ever faced by the force.

There was praise for teams who stepped up to battle the challenge, in a remote area and with limited water supply. But greater preparedness is needed for wildfire events, it concluded, around planning and risk, resilience, scalable welfare and support for staff.

Chief Fire Officer Jonathan Dyson said steps have already been taken to strengthen messaging, and with work on water supplies.

And the York and North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum (YNYLRF) has published its own findings into the blaze.

It was a hiker who first called in reports of a fire to 999 at 6.30pm on June 26, after what had been the hottest spring on record.

And it emerges there were more than 20 explosions from historical munitions left on the site, near RAF Fylingdales, from its use as a military training range in the Second World War.

This "significantly compromised" NYFRS ability to conduct an offensive firefighting strategy, reports find, while underlying peat beds carried on burning even as the flames were put out.

"It was understood that, without further intervention, the fire was likely to burn into the peat and persist until winter," the report outlines. "While helicopters proved effective in suppressing some advancing flame fronts, they were not capable of fully extinguishing the fire."

Among recommendations are for a review of communications and response planning and training, and accessing equipment. Risk assessments had also been 'yellow' for wildfire, which was too low.

And while processes are in place for flooding, this is not the case for wildfires, it warned, suggesting a national discussion.

Local resilience forum executive chairman Richard Flinton, who led the report, said it will be "decades" before the impact is realised.

The fact no lives were lost and no buildings damaged is "solely" due to the "fearless" efforts of NYFRS and those involved, he added.

"That said, where lessons are identified, we must acknowledge them so that we can continue to develop our capacity and capabilities," he said. "The summer of 2025 was unprecedented, but in light of our changing climate, we must ensure we are prepared for future wildfire incidents."