With 2026 set to be the warmest summer on record, Bob Ward sees emergency crews having to adapt to a changing climate.
Dorset’s changing climate is increasing the risks of summer wildfires across the county, causing devastating losses to farms and wildlife habitats.
The county has been experiencing its warmest summer on record, causing vegetation to dry out more than usual, and combined with very little rainfall, many areas of farmland, grassland and forest are at risk from fire.
Thousands of tonnes of hay and crops were lost to fire across Dorset in July when Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service attended 277 grassland, woodland and crop fires. This was the second highest monthly total in the past six years, second only to August 2022.
In a media release about the busy month, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Dave Waters, stated: ‘This reflects what is becoming the new normal. Fire and rescue services are adapting to risks that look very different from those we faced even a decade ago, with prolonged periods of hot, dry weather increasing the frequency and severity of large outdoor fires. What was once considered exceptional is increasingly routine.’
Last year was the worst 12 months for the number of outdoor fires, with more than 1000 incidents recorded by the Service. It included the fire on Holt Heath in August 2025 which burned 72 hectares of the National Nature Reserve.
A year on from the fire, Holt Heath is still struggling to recover, partly because of the exceptionally hot and dry conditions this summer. While some level of recovery has been detected across around 30 per cent of the affected area, most is still ‘charred and scarred earth’ the National Trust warns.
All six of the UK’s reptile species are found in the Holt Heath National Nature Reserve, including rare sand lizards and smooth snakes. The Dartford warbler and stone chat are among the birds that have been most affected by the fire.
The National Trust points out that in the most severely hit parts of the heathland ‘the fire burned through the fragile surface layer of soil, leaving extensive areas of exposed sand vulnerable to erosion’. Ellie Egan, Countryside Manager for the National Trust at Holt Heath and the Kingston Lacy Estate, states on the Trust’s website: ‘While some areas are beginning to recover naturally, the damage was far more severe in places than we would typically expect, and parts of the heath still look very much like a “moonscape” and these will require careful, long-term management if they are to recover successfully’.
She added: ‘The heatwave and dry conditions we’re experiencing this year are also making the heathland’s recovery even more difficult as new growth will struggle without rain for long periods.’
Dorset’s heathlands are particularly vulnerable to fire, and not just during the summer. Significant heathland fires broke out across the Sandford and Wareham areas at the end of March, requiring a major response from Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Unfortunately, wildfire conditions in the county are set to become even worse over the next couple of decades as we suffer the consequences of climate change caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Summer 2026 is likely to have been the warmest on record, overtaking 2025. Daily temperature records were broken in May and June. Last year was the UK’s warmest on record, with the last four years all being among the five warmest years since 1884. The UK’s average annual temperature has been rising by about 0.25 Celsius degrees per decade since the 1980s. However, there has been no detectable change in summer rainfall over this period.
Nonetheless, the impacts of the high temperatures have been exacerbated by the exceptionally dry conditions. Dorset recorded an average temperature that was 3.5 degrees Celsius higher than the long-term mean, and just 0.9 millimetres of rain during the whole of July, after below-average 27.3 millimetres in May and 64.9 millimetres in June.
Even without drought conditions, the increase in summer temperatures means that vegetation dries out more quickly, and fire can spread more rapidly when it starts. This means rapidly-spreading wildfires are becoming more frequent across Dorset and the rest of the country.
The European Forest Fire Information System monitors fires that affect more than 30 hectares, and has recorded a substantial increase in the area burned across the UK over the past 15 years. The largest area affected occurred in 2025 when 47,879 hectares were burned. As of early August 2026, 22,850 hectares had already been affected by fire this year, the third highest total on record.
The increase in wildfire conditions will continue to increase in the UK due to climate change until the UK and the rest of the world reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to net zero. That means wildfires are likely to become more frequent and intense for the next couple of decades at least, and will require much stronger efforts to prevent and control them.
Many wildfires are started accidentally by people. When the vegetation is dry, fire can spread very quickly, particularly if there is a significant wind. The use of barbecues is banned on much of the protected sites and National Trust land across the county. Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service provides the following advice to prevent accidental fires:
Avoid having open fires or using barbecues in the countryside.
Barbecues and campfires are banned in many country parks, campsites and open spaces. Make sure you check what is and is not allowed where you are, and follow the rules.
Extinguish smoking materials properly, and do not throw cigarette ends on the ground or out of car windows – take your litter home.
If you see a fire in the countryside, report it immediately to the Fire and Rescue Service. Early detection can prevent it from developing into a large wildfire incident.
When calling the Fire and Rescue Service:
Get to a safe place
Note the fire location (What3Words can help if you are not sure)
Call 999
Meet the Fire and Rescue Service at the entrance.
Do not attempt to tackle fires that cannot be put out with a bucket of water – leave the area as quickly as possible.
