Over the last few weeks the Fire and Rescue Service have been called to a number of fires involving controlled burning of rubbish and grass. With all this dry weather recently the ground and foliage is very dry and with the sea breeze we currently have any fire will very quickly get out of hand.

Heather burning at this time of year is no longer permitted you need a specially extended licence from DEFA, the usual licensed burning off period is 1st September till 15th March.

For other types of controlled burning, we must remind people that there are restrictions in place to the type and nature of burning that can be undertaken further details can be found on the DEFA web site. If you are going to have some form of fire we would always ask you to be considerate to neighbours and those living nearby in the area remember smoke travels some distance and can affect people’s health as well as being very annoying, it is important that the Emergency Joint Control Room are informed on 697327 this will hopefully prevent any unnecessary call out of the Fire Service.

With this weather people will start to have BBQ’s these when held in the countryside can also cause problems so please follow these simple basic precautions:

• Never leave camp fires or barbeques unattended and extinguish them properly after you have finished using them
• Clear away bottles, glasses and any broken glass to avoid them magnifying the sun and starting a fire
• Dispose of smoking materials such as cigarettes safely
• Explain to children the dangers of playing with and lighting fires