A FIRE service manager has described tree-height flames spreading in a pine forest north of Llandovery and how close the fire came to properties in the remote area.
Geraint Thomas has been involved in a major incident in the Rhandirmwyn area following a fire which began on Wednesday and had 14 crews in attendance at its peak.
Mr Thomas said the perimeter of the fire expanded to 480 hectares – around 670 football pitches – with areas of broadleaved woodland, mountain moorland as well as pine forest burning within it.
The Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service area manager said it was now under control thanks largely to much cooler conditions on Friday.
“It’s really challenging terrain in places,” he said. “The majority of the fire is quite deep-seated in the pine forest. We were limited in what we could see.
“Some parts of the fire were very visible. We could see flames, and then smoke emerging elsewhere.
“Because of the denseness of the smoke it’s far harder to see the flames during the day. As it darkens they become more prominent.”
Mr Thomas said flames were tree-height in the pine forest and one to two-feet as they scorched nearby moorland.
He said conditions were particularly hot on Thursday. “The heat warms the fuel in front of the fire so it spreads more easily,” he said.
Some 24 residents in the scattered hamlet area, he said, were evacuated for their safety.
“The fire came very close to houses, and we were concerned,” he said.
Resources were targeted on protecting the homes, he said, with support from agricultural contractors who helped cut fire breaks and applied water from tractor water bowsers at a safe distance.
Mr Thomas said eight crews were at the scene on Friday afternoon including two from North Wales and that the fire, while contained, was being constantly monitored. “Today (Friday) it’s 10C cooler, there was mist in the air and less wind,” he said.
He thanked local people for bringing water and food to the crews, and added that the cause of the blaze, which the fire service said caused a smoke cloud rising 800ft above ground level, wasn’t known yet.
A rest centre was set up at Llandovery Leisure Centre for people impacted by the fire.
Wales has been exceptionally dry from mid-June onwards and exceptionally hot. A provisional temperature of 35.3C was recorded in Ceredigion on Thursday. If confirmed it would be the county’s hottest August day ever.
Numerous wildfires have burned in recent weeks often on in remote terrain, and it was announced on Friday that military resources are to be deployed in the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service area.
Mr Thomas, who has been in the fire service for 26 years, said: “I think it’s fair to say this summer has been particularly challenging, probably the busiest I have experienced in my career.”
The UK is expected to face hotter summers with dry conditions more likely as greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere trap more heat.
“We are seeing an increase in warmer summers at the moment,” said Mr Thomas, who lives near Ammanford. “In the winter we are seeing more rainfall, and we are preparing as a service to deal with that.”
Llandovery councillor Handel Davies said around around 220 workers and 50-60 residents at Coleg Elidyr – a specialist college for people with complex needs run by Elidyr Communities Trust – had left their site just south of Rhandirmwyn on Wednesday due to the fire.
Cllr Davies said efforts of the community in recent days hadn’t come as a surprise. “That’s the type of community we have got here and long may it continue,” he said.
Cllr Davies said food and drink was taken from JT’s Fish Bar to firefighters and £1,000 quickly raised in donations.
He praised farmers for the help they’ve given fire crews. “They’ve taken the bull by the horns,” he said.
Cllr Davies said he’d never known fires in the area like the one at Rhandirmwyn, and reckoned permanent fire breaks were needed to avoid “an accident waiting to happen” in the future.
