Red Notice July 2026
Environmental groups back firefighters
Environmental and tax justice groups have joined the Fire Brigades Union in calling for major investment in the fire and rescue service. In a letter to the Chancellor and Environment Secretary Ed Miliband, organisations including Greenpeace, Tax Justice UK, Friends of the Earth, Tipping Point UK and...
Burn to protect?
The Wales Wildfire Board are encouraging farmers and landowners to “Burn to Protect” the Welsh countryside over the coming season. This may sound counter-intuitive, but fire has been used as a land-management tool for thousands of years in highland areas across the UK. Controlled burning can...
All hands on deck... but can the service cope?
This summer, two major wildfire incidents at opposite ends of England pushed firefighters to the limit. With fire services facing deeper cuts, Barrie Clement investigates. Two massive incidents this summer gave a graphic illustration of the scandalous lack of resources in Britain’s fire service...
Where is the resilience?
Spring and summer this year were both record-breaking. Droughts and high temperatures created the perfect conditions for wildfires. Meanwhile, austerity has undermined the ability of the fire service to respond and a lack of national standards means that it’s pot luck how good your local fire cover...
Firefighters left to tackle wildfire blaze without proper PPE
Firefighters left to tackle wildfire blaze without proper PPE Last week, as temperatures soared, wildfires broke out across the UK, including in Edinburgh, North Yorkshire and at Holt Heath in Dorset. 17 fire and rescue services were drafted in to deal with the Holt Heath fire. Today, the Fire...
"Shocking" lack of resources as 17 fire services send crews to Dorset & Wiltshire wildfire
Firefighters continue to tackle the major wildfire at Holt Heat, Dorset, with a critical lack of resources meaning that crews have had to travel from across the UK to assist. All neighbouring fire and rescue services have sent crews, including Devon and Somerset; Avon; Gloucestershire; Oxfordshire...
Zane’s Law Summit at Westminster: “Make toxic landfills safe!”
Campaigners calling for ‘Zane’s Law’, to protect communities from contaminated land, held a summit at the Houses of Parliament on the 11 June. The proposed law would improve transparency around historic landfill sites and clarify who is responsible for making these safe. It is named after seven-year...
Union leader warns Reform’s cuts and anti-net zero agenda poses risk to fire service
Firefighters’ union leader Steve Wright has warned that Reform’s electoral advances pose a risk to public safety, especially in areas where wildfires are an increasingly common occurrence. The total area burnt by wildfires this year is already bigger than any year in over a decade. Wright said that...
"Like a bad dream": firefighters on the frontline in LA
Helen Hague reports on the devastating wildfires that tore through Southern California in January On 7 January, ferocious desert winds tore through parched terrain in southern California, powering two of the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history, turning neighbourhoods to ash, and...
