Hexham has been ranked the most at-risk area for wildfires in the North East and seventh across the UK, as soaring temperatures and very low rainfall increase concern about the threat to moorland, habitats, homes and emergency services.
The assessment places Hexham ahead of every other constituency area in the region. North Northumberland was ranked second in the North East and 31st nationally, followed by Blaydon and Consett in 73rd place, North Durham in 92nd and the City of Durham in 116th.
The findings were reported as the Environment Agency declared that half of England was experiencing drought. The combination of hotter weather, dry ground and falling river levels has also led to hosepipe bans in parts of the country, while firefighters have tackled major blazes elsewhere in the UK and Europe.
What the Hexham ranking measures
The league table was produced using data from the Moorland Association, which assessed parliamentary constituency areas using open-source information and expert analysis. Its method uses 10 indicators grouped into three areas: hazard, exposure and vulnerability.
Hazard considers the amount of vegetation available to fuel a fire, weather conditions that could trigger one and terrain features that may intensify its spread. Exposure looks at what could be affected, including properties and habitats, as well as how difficult evacuation might be in a worst-case situation.
Vulnerability measures how fragile or prepared an area may be. The assessment includes factors such as the age of housing and the proportion of elderly residents.
The ranking does not report a wildfire currently burning in Hexham. Instead, it is an assessment of the potential threat across the constituency area, based on the conditions and characteristics considered likely to influence the impact of a fire.
Wider North East and national picture
High Peak in Derbyshire was identified as the highest-risk constituency area in the country. That area has been affected by the major Tintwistle Moor fire near Glossop, where crews were first called on 24 June and a major incident was declared on 13 July.
Other intense wildfires reported this summer included incidents at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk, Dovestone in Greater Manchester and the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. In Europe, wildfires merged into an uncontrolled front in Spain, where a national emergency was declared, while homes were evacuated in France.
The assessment comes amid warnings that climate change is increasing the likelihood of wildfires. Water Minister Emma Hardy urged people to prepare for what she described as a new normal associated with climate change, including low rivers, water restrictions and increased fire risk.
Residents and visitors can use the interactive map referred to in the assessment to check the threat level for where they live or areas they plan to visit. The full rankings are available through the Moorland Association’s Wildfire Risk League Table.
Dispute over how wildfire risk should be tackled
The report has also prompted disagreement over the role of rewilding in wildfire risk. Andrew Gilruth, chief executive of the Moorland Association, argued that rewilding campaigns had contributed to the spread of highly flammable vegetation in Britain’s uplands. He called for immediate action to allow farmers and gamekeepers to reduce what he described as an unsafe build-up of vegetation.
Rewilding Britain chief executive Rebecca Wrigley rejected that explanation. She said attributing the wildfire threat entirely to rewilding overlooked the effect of climate change and damage to natural systems, and argued that removing vegetation from uplands was not a complete answer.
Her proposed measures included better public awareness to prevent fires starting, properly resourced fire and rescue services and landscapes designed to be more resilient when fires occur. She also pointed to healthy peatlands and beaver wetlands as moisture-rich barriers, and to a mix of native woodland, heathland and wetlands as a way to retain water and create firebreaks that could slow flames.
For Hexham, the seventh-place national ranking highlights the potential consequences of prolonged hot and dry conditions across an area containing moorland, habitats and rural communities. The assessment provides a risk measure rather than a warning of an active incident, but it places the town and its wider constituency among the locations requiring the closest attention as wildfire conditions develop.