Prince William says climate change makes UK wildfire risk terrifying
The hillside, just metres away from the community centre where Prince William met fire crews, military personnel and local volunteers is burnt black.
“You looked up [and] the mountain was alight – it was like lava,” explained Kath Edwards, managing director of charity Valleys Kids, which runs the building.
“I genuinely thought we were going to lose the centre – but more importantly people were going to lose their homes.
“You never think this is going to come literally to your door and that’s what it was – it was just crazy.”
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) declared a major incident as it was forced to respond to 14 wildfires at the same time in August, including the one above Treherbert.
Support was drafted in from 22 other UK fire services while soldiers were deployed to dig fire breaks and help supply 2.1 million litres of water to douse the flames, including 200 members of the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment.
Aled Bound, who is crew manager at Maesteg fire station and a retained – on-call – firefighter at Treorchy told Prince William it was “the hardest wildfire season” he and his colleagues had ever dealt with.
