Lives will be lost unless UK does more to combat wildfires, committee chairwoman says

The aftermath of a wildfire in Dunwich Heath, Suffolk, during the summer

Lives "will be lost" unless more is done to combat the increasing risk of wildfires, the chairwoman of the UK's Climate Change Committee (CCC) has said after a record number of blazes this summer.

Earlier this year, one man died in a wildfire in Gloucestershire, while 19 homes were destroyed in Stourbridge, near Birmingham, and villagers were evacuated in the Cairngorms.

As far back as 2012, the independent CCC warned of "more frequent wildfires due to warmer and drier conditions".

Records for the number of reported wildfires were also broken in 2022 and 2025.

Baroness Brown said the CCC, formed in 2008, has been telling the government for years that the UK is "not prepared for the changing climate". She continued: "The warnings have been there and not enough action has been taken.

She said that included investing in specialist teams and equipment, but also "planning our woodlands, thinking about fire breaks" and early warning systems.

File on 4 Investigates looks at whether the country is prepared for the growing threat, and if the emergency services have the resources to cope.

Uttam and Sandy Shiralkar are still coming to terms with the loss of their family home in Stourbridge after it was engulfed by a wildfire in August.

Uttam and Sandy Shiralkar are now living in temporary accommodation after losing their family home in a wildfire...

The fires started accidentally in fields in Stourbridge, where farming machinery was in use on the hottest day of the year.

While the risk of wildfires is on the rise, the number of firefighters has been in decline.