UK to set up AI team in government to spot wildfires faster

The UK government plans to set up an AI unit to spot wildfires faster, after the country's hottest summer on record. Prime Minister Andy Burnham is due to announce it on Friday at the government's first wildfire resilience summit. Money for firefighter gear, military aircraft and land repair will be announced alongside it.

What changed

The new unit will sit in the National Situation Centre, which is part of the Cobra briefing rooms. The government says it will help it "spot and fight fires faster". Google, Airbus and VodafoneThree are expected at the summit. They will explain how satellite monitoring and early warning systems can help fight fires.

This summer's long dry spells and extreme heat fueled wildfires across the country. Some were serious enough to trigger an emergency alert to mobile phones in England and Wales. Figures released on 8 October showed a clear upward trend in fires each year. The Met Office found climate change made the extreme heat about 130 times more likely.

Money and equipment

• £45m for fire crews to buy wildfire-specific protective gear.
• Military planes and helicopters for remote moorland, steep hillsides and other hard-to-reach land.
• £25m to restore dried-out peatlands in England so they hold more water.
• The farm grant scheme is expected to run from April 2027 to April 2029.

The gear matters. The Guardian found that more than half of the 29 fire services that answered its questions had no wildfire protective equipment. Standard respirators do not protect against gases such as carbon monoxide, which are heavy in wildfire smoke. Standard gear can also be too hot and heavy, so crews may overheat or take it off.

Pushback

The government quietly scrapped an earlier Conservative plan to prepare the English countryside for wildfires. Alistair Carmichael, who chairs a Commons committee on rural affairs, said this raises "serious questions" about whether more resources on the ground would have changed this summer. Burnham has also been criticized for not addressing climate change in his response. Campaigner Guy Shrubsole welcomed the peatland grant but said more funding and duties on landowners must follow.

What happens next

The government will also look at tougher local restrictions or product bans when fire risk is high. In August, Burnham announced a temporary ban on sales of disposable barbecues. Still unclear: when the AI unit starts work, how it will use the data, and what it will cost. For people near moorland or countryside, faster detection could mean earlier warning, but the government has not said how alerts will change.