Wales has suffered over one hundred fires over the last several days as controlled burns spiralled out of hand.
On Thursday residents of Trawsfynydd and Bronaber were urged to keep windows and doors closed due to smoke from a grass fire which took six fire station units to tackle, whilst control rooms were inundated with calls from the general public.
Mid and South Wales endured 113 grass fires on Thursday and Friday last week, with over 20 wildfires reported across mountainous, rural and coastal areas in North Wales over the same period.
Further forest and grass fires were fought over the weekend, whilst a man lost “everything” during a house fire in Porthmadog on Saturday.
Emergency services are blaming the uptick in fires as being “due to the seasonal conditions” following several dry and sunny days, however over 70 have so far been reported as “deliberate”.
A North Wales Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “The service deployed over 40 fire engines, specialist wildfire units, and personnel [on Thursday and Friday], working in collaboration with Natural Resources Wales, North Wales Police, and local landowners.
“Fire Control has also been dealing with a high volume of calls, recalling staff and coordinating efforts across the region.
“We recognise that burning responsibly is an effective land management tool and assists in reducing wildfires long-term.
“We encourage landowners to work with their local Fire and Rescue Service to burn responsibly.
Controlled burns by landowners are legal without a license between 1 October and 31 March in upland areas and between 1 November and 15 March elsewhere.
Burns of heather, rough grass, bracken, gorse and bilberry is a commonly used technique to remove moorland vegetation - however the cause of some of Wales’ fires were these raging out of control due to the dry weather.
Controlled burns which are meant to be completed in daylight hours raged long into the night in mid-Wales, including north of Dolgellau on Thursday night and another near farms and homes in Glaspwll, Machynlleth, on Saturday.
On Tuesday landowners mourned the loss of a rehabilitated forest in Pennal with teams from Tywyn, Machynlleth, Dolgellau and wildfire units from Llanidloes and Caernarfon in attendance for eight hours followed by the land owners taking up overnight watch.
Aberystwyth Fire Station fought numerous fires across Thursday and Friday last week, stating the incidents have had a “massive impact on our resources”.
Due to the number of calls, control rooms are asking the public to only call 999 “if your life or property is in immediate danger”, with Aberystwyth Fire Station adding: “Our control staff are under severe pressure from the calls they're receiving for grass fires.
“They're doing their absolute best to support the public and our operational crews.
“Please try to reduce the pressure on them.”
To try and allay the calls Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service posted a list of the 17 grass fires they attended on Thursday.
The on-call fire fighting team at Tywyn Fire Station were called to six fires close to Dolgellau last week, as well as an incident in Llandrillo and wildfires in Aberangell and Dinas Mawddwy, Pennal, Trawsfynydd.
A spokesperson for the team added: “All this was done alongside our primary jobs, thank you to employers for releasing some staff, our fellow fire stations who were all in the same situation and most importantly to our own families who have had plans cancelled, rearranged or changed, not knowing when we will be home or where we are.”
Natural Resources Wales have urged people to not light campfires and barbeques and beware of lighting cigarettes - requesting witnesses to anyone starting a fire deliberately to call the police or Crimestoppers.