Sweethope Lough

Early on Friday evening Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service requested logistical and safety support, including use of a drone, for a large wildfire in Fourlaws Wood near to Sweethope Lough.

A limited deployment of two response vehicles and four members, including one of our drone pilots and an observer, was agreed with our Tactical Command.

After liaising with the Fire Commander on scene and an assessment of the area covered by the fire, it was agreed to deploy Mountain Rescue resources from the north to Wanney Crag. The drone was then flown over the fire ground to give the fire crews a good perspective on the extent to which the fire had been contained and dampened down. By this time light was fading and the fire crews and ourselves stood down for the night. Whilst the majority of the fire had been dampened down there were still some spectacular flare ups in the forest.

On Saturday morning our Mountain Rescue wildfire lead returned to the fire ground and with the NFRS Wildfire Officer assessed whether our support would be required again. Thankfully this was not the case especially given events later in the day, more on this later.

The incident involved 5 Team members for 3 hours 30 minutes on Friday and 1 member for 2 hours on Saturday.