Moorland Fire Munitions A New Challenge for Yorkshire Coast Fire Fighters

Sunday, 24 August 2025 06:00

By Matthew Pells

The quantity of unexploded munitions that have been found at the site of the Langdale Moor fire has surprised North Yorkshire's Fire service.

The moorland fire has been burning for 13 days, some of the land involved used to be an army firing range.

Fire crews from across North Yorkshire have been involved in tackling the blaze, including crews from Scarborough, Whitby and Pickering who are familiar with the location.

Ben Illsley from the fire service says there have been a number of detonations over the last week, something the fire fighters are not used to.

"We've got some very experienced firefighters who worked in those parts of the moorland for years and never encountered something of this nature.

It was first discovered last Wednesday when there was a detonation under the surface last Wednesday. So being very cautious, we moved everyone back to a safe distance and fought the fire from the perimeter.

Since then, there has been 16 in total, so I think it's fair to say there was limited knowledge to us as a fine rescue service in terms of that ammunition.

We did, however, get great and fast support from the MOD and the EODs, teams have visited site multiple times to make sure that our crews are working in safe areas. "

Ben says the quantity of ordinance discovered has been a surprise to many of the local fire fighters.

"A lot of the records that they kept when obviously this was used for what it was used for, this piece of land are 60, 70 years old, so there is a register. We've had the military down. They've been very supportive in helping us understand.

We've had the EOD teams down doing areas of sweeping, but since the first discovery last Wednesday, more unexploded ordinance was found in an area that one of the contractors was digging a fire break on.

We're still being very cautious down there. We're still treating this as a major incident given the risk that there will be a significant area that may have buried munitions moving forward. "

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue continues to advise local residents and visitors to "avoid the immediate area if you can and to keep windows and doors closed". They also warn of an "extreme fire risk," urging vigilance and caution against using disposable barbecues or discarding smoking materials anywhere in the area. While the immediate area near Fylingdales should be avoided, "the rest of the national park and areas like Dalby Forest remains open".