A record number of wildfires have blazed across England and Wales this year, with authorities and campaigners pointing to environmental policies, particularly those related to rewilding, as a contributing factor to the surge. As of this year, 1,017 infernos have already occurred, matching the total for the entire previous record year of 2025.
Temperatures are forecast to reach 38C, intensifying concerns that a build-up of dry vegetation, exacerbated by government policies, has turned rural areas into fire hazards. Critics argue that the Labour party's rewilding initiatives, which advocate for minimal human intervention in natural processes, have led to excessive accumulation of dry vegetation.
Traditionally, gamekeepers and farmers managed landscapes by conducting controlled burns of heather and grasses during cooler months. This practice, they contend, promotes new growth beneficial for grazing livestock and wildlife. However, last year, regulations were expanded to prohibit such burning on 1.6 million acres of land, a move the government stated was aimed at improving air quality and protecting public health, particularly on peatlands.
Jonathan Roberts of the Country Land and Business Association stated that despite 2025 being the worst year on record for wildfires, the government responded by restricting controlled burning, a key preventative measure. "Government has in effect banned the single-most important method of preventing wildfires, and we are now living with the consequences," Roberts said. "Put simply, they must reverse the policy immediately."
Similar sentiments were expressed by the Countryside Alliance, which described the government's decision as "foolish." The organization highlighted that the area where controlled vegetation burning is effectively banned in uplands has more than tripled. "The Countryside Alliance has repeatedly warned that by ignoring the latest scientific evidence, the Government is significantly increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfires," a spokesperson said.
These warnings come amid ongoing efforts to combat significant blazes, including one in the New Forest that has persisted for four days and consumed hundreds of acres. Fire crews in South Wales reported battling seven separate fires, with some believed to have been intentionally set.
Lord Botham, a vocal opponent of rewilding, called for decisive action from the Prime Minister, suggesting that the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) be placed under special measures for "reckless incompetence." He asserted that the wildfire crisis is "man-made" and a result of repeated policy errors. "For two decades we have added far too much vegetation to our landscape and are now suffering the inevitable consequences," Botham wrote. "Unless Andy Burnham acts decisively there will be fatalities."
Natural England maintains that heather burning damages carbon-storing peat and instead promotes mechanical cutting. However, critics argue that while cutting reduces fuel load, it leaves behind ignitable material. "The winter burns used to create firebreaks. Now we have huge expanses of continuous, ageing vegetation. The result is disaster after disaster," Lord Botham stated, urging the Prime Minister to reverse the ban before the new winter burning season commences on October 1.
Andrew Gilruth of the Moorland Association echoed these concerns, noting that "Rewilding sounds like a good idea, unless you end up facing a wall of flames." He added, "We simply have far, far too much vegetation covering our landscape and until we reverse rewilding, the wildfires will get worse and worse."
A Defra spokesman defended the policies, describing peatland restoration as a "long-term" solution. "Peatland restoration is the most effective, sustainable, and long-term solution for reducing fuel load on degraded peatlands, as wetter, healthy-functioning peatlands hold more water in the landscape for longer and are more resilient to the impacts of wildfire," the spokesperson said.