No commitment to reassess future coastal firefighting resources as national support arrives in North Yorkshire
The county’s mayor has not committed to reassessing coastal firefighting resources on the North Yorkshire Coast, as national support has started to arrive to help tackle the blaze near RAF Fylingdales.
The elected mayor of York and North Yorkshire was asked whether he would reassess the level of resources that are allocated to the coast once the Langdale Moor fire has been put out.
The fire started on August 11 and its cause “has not been established at this time”.
Mayor David Skaith, who is also the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, acknowledged the need for extra resources in general, but did not specifically commit to reassessing the level of resources allocated to the coast after the Langdale Moor fire.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that resources “are there” and highlighted the “unprecedented” nature of the situation.
“We understand that going forward, things like wildfires and flooding are going to become the norm, unfortunately,” the mayor said.
“Understanding that our fire service has the equipment, the expertise, and the personnel required to be able to deal with those flare-ups is absolutely key.”
This year, the fire element of the precept within York and North Yorkshire was increased.
For a Band D property, the precept was set at £107.02, an increase of £24, over the 2024/25 level.
Mayor Skaith said that the precept increase was needed to address “the shortfall in funding that happened to the fire service over the last 15 or so years, which is why we looked to fill that gap last year, and why, in an incident like this, it is exactly why you need that resilience and those extra resources”.
On Wednesday, the Chief Fire Officer announced that he had requested national support in the form of 10 firefighting appliances, and Mayor Skaith said the Government would also be providing financial assistance.
The national assistance had started to arrive as of Thursday (August 28) afternoon.
The additional assets are going to a holding area in Pickering, where they can be deployed to the incident ground.
Concerns about the capacity of fire services on the North Yorkshire Coast to rapidly respond to calls in rural areas, especially in the moors around Whitby, have been raised by locals and councillors for several years.
David Skaith said that North Yorkshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Jonathan Dyson, had “shown brilliant leadership” in tackling the blaze on Langdale Moor and has “shown that we do have that capacity there, but a fire on this scale is unprecedented and that’s why having to get those extra resources in”.
He added: “Because so much of this is outside of the control of the fire service, unfortunately, when you’ve got long dry periods and winds and in an incredibly difficult environment for our fire service to get to as it’s already been raised.
“This is on a scale that probably no-one has seen.”