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Up in smoke – exploring the data behind UK wildfires
After a summer of record temperatures, A&E admissions and time without rainfall, it is perhaps no surprise that the number of wildfires in England and Wales this year has already reached the total recorded for the whole of 2025. This prompted the UK Government to issue a Severe Alert which people received on their phones last Friday (14th August).
A major incident was declared by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue on 13 July as they responded to a fire on moorland near Dove Stone Reservoir on Saddleworth Moor. A separate fire started the following day near Swineshaw Reservoir at Glossop, and the multi-agency team tackling both incidents was only stood down on 3 August, though firefighters remained there to continue monitoring conditions.
Many of us can only look on, see the smoke and try to decide whether or not to close our windows, but many are doing their part by trying to understand the conditions that make wildfires possible, the impacts they can have on people and planet, and what we can do to prevent them.
We’ll hear from leading local experts on the different ways that data can help us understand what wildfires, and extreme heat, mean for people in the UK and beyond.
- Clare Nolan, Strategic Risk Analyst – Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue who has been compiling data related to the Greater Manchester wildfires.
- Dr. Gail Millin-Chalabi, GIS, Mapping and Earth Observation Community Lead at the University of Manchester, will be talking about mapping and Earth Observation data techniques for wildfires.
- Dr Congbo Song is a Research Scientist with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) at the University of Manchester, focusing on atmospheric data science and air quality analytics. He will present key findings on indoor and outdoor air pollution impacts during the recent wildfires across Greater Manchester.