Moorland Fire Recovery to "Take Decades" as Some Areas Remain Closed

Thursday, 23 October 2025 18:30

By Matthew Pells

Some parts of the North York Moors near Fylingdales remain closed to the public after this summers moorland fire with unexploded ordinance still a concern.

Matt Robinson is North Yorkshire Council's head of resilience, he says there are a number of reasons for the continued closures including the risk from unexploded ordinance left over from an old military firing range, which has been disturbed by the fire and the efforts to tackle it.

"The North Yorkshire Moors park is open. Most areas are open and can be safely enjoyed, and businesses are open as usual. However, the landscape around Fylingdale's Moor remains hazardous.

That public rights of way is closed off around Fylingdale's Moor. That's for two reasons.

One is because of that sensitive landscape that we've got. What we don't want is footfall that could. Contribute to further erosion before the emergency restoration has taken place.

But also because of that unexploded ordinance, at the moment there may be bits of metal that people would come across quite a lot of it is inert, quite a lot of it is no risk whatsoever, but we want to make sure that people understand what they're going back to."

Matt says that parts of the North York Moors near Fylingdales could take decades to recover from this summer's moorland fire and that is another reason to for the closures that are still in place in an effort to help the landscape recover.

"Your listeners may have seen pictures of some of the, greening up that's happening in the Heather, and that's fantastic to see.

We've got a resilient moors that's already starting to grow back, but for some of the worst affected areas, for example, the patches of bog habitats, which is still smoldering in some cases, that full ecological recovery, it's gonna take decades if not centuries sadly.

Other areas, it will recover quicker within years. But there are areas, particularly in the peat where it's a long-term environmental recovery, which is why many areas are closed off because we want to make sure that emergency restoration, can take place and that will prevent any further degradation of any of the exposed peat."

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