Easter Adjournment

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Tuesday 8th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Dorset is burning. Just before midnight last Wednesday, the sky outside my home glowed a deep orange. Upton heath, a precious stretch of lowland habitat, was ablaze, in the middle of the ground-nesting bird season. A few hours later, just miles away, Canford heath, one of our largest and most precious sites of special scientific interest, was also going up in smoke, and days before that, Moors Valley country park and forest, just outside my constituency, had also caught fire. These are not isolated incidents; they are frighteningly normal.

Fire crews from Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight worked through the night, and we owe them all a debt of gratitude, but more than 70 football pitches’ worth of rare habitat was nevertheless lost in that one fire. It was not even the first time this year. Upton heath burned back in February; in March part of RSPB Arne was torched, and Canford heath went up in smoke as well. Dorset Wildlife Trust rushed to rescue reptiles and assess the devastation to the nests of nightjars, woodlarks and Dartford warblers. Even when their nests and eggs survive, their insect food source is gone. Nature organisations have established that it will take at least five years for Upton heath to recover from this one incident. Dorset is one of the few areas in the country where nature is actually making a comeback—partly thanks to the Dorset Heaths Partnership—but how long can we keep winning this battle if the fires keep coming?

So what is causing the fires? Let me be clear: it is us. Almost every one of these fires, from Upton heath to Wareham forest, was caused by human activity—a carelessly dropped cigarette, illegal campfires or, worse, deliberate arson. As climate change makes our landscapes hotter and drier, we are living in a perfect storm. Fires are more frequent, more intense, and harder to contain.

I know the fire service well. My dad, Ray Walls, served with the London Fire Brigade throughout his career, and I have been a member of the Dorset and Wiltshire fire authority. I have seen what the fire crews do—heroes running towards danger as we run away—but I have also seen how underfunded they are. Last year, we lost fire appliances in Poole and Wareham, with further threats to Wimborne and Bere Regis. This is about response times, when family homes are at risk or someone is stuck in a flood.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue has received a real-terms cut in Government funding, and the Fire Brigades Union has said that fire funding is now lower than it was a decade ago. A band D household in Dorset pays just £1.76 a week for its fire service through council tax, but local services have no flexibility to raise more if they want to. We need proper investment. We need drones for wildfire detection; we need equipment for flood rescues and for bariatric patients; we need fire crews not just to respond, but to educate, prevent, and prepare. They are doing a great job, attending schools such as Broadstone middle school, where last month, a fire crew explained the dangers to young children, but they are stretched to capacity. I therefore call on the Government to rethink fire service funding so that it is sustainable for the future.

Let us look at the cause of so many accidental fires: disposable barbecues. They seem harmless, but they have been the spark behind countless wildfires—over 1,000 in London in just a year. Local authorities can and do impose public spaces protection orders, and Dorset is consulting on one, but if petrol stations and supermarkets keep selling barbecues, people will keep buying them. Disposable barbecues not only cause fires; they get left behind on beaches, burn unsuspecting feet and create litter. It is time we considered a ban. As we head into the Easter recess, I encourage people to enjoy Dorset. It is a jewel of the UK, filled with chocolate-box towns, stunning beaches and plenty of Easter egg hunts at Farmer Palmer’s and Kingston Lacy—but please leave your barbecue at home.

I will end by putting on record my thanks to all members of the emergency services and the volunteers who work alongside them, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Dorset community first responders and Corfe Mullen’s Firewise volunteers.