Sweethope Lough

Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service requested Mountain Rescue’s assistance for the wildfire in Fourlaws wood near to Sweethope Lough. Despite efforts over the previous day and a half by the fire crews to keep dampening down hot spots, the wildfire flared up again on Sunday afternoon.

A limited response was initiated with two response vehicles mobilised from Rothbury and Pegswood with five members. On arrival one of our Duty Controllers liaised with Fire & Rescue’s Wildfire Officer to determine exactly what support was required and where.

While our drone was flown over the fire ground to give the fire crews a good perspective on the extent of the wildfire and whether it had been sufficiently dampened down, checks were undertaken to ensure there weren’t any members of the public in the area. The area is popular with walkers and climbers especially at a weekend. Two rock climbers were spotted on Great Wanney Crag, immediately north of the wood where the wildfire was burning. They were unaware of what was happening just the other side of hill and safety advice was duly provided.

The incident involved 6 Team members for 3 hours 30 minutes.