The National Fire Chiefs Council, Natural England and Forestry Commission will be among organisations answering questions from the EFRA Committee on the growing threat of wildfires and methods of tackling them.
\r\nMPs are likely to question witnesses (full details below) on improving public awareness on how to prevent fires, as nearly all incidents are started by people. Natural England has said incidents caused naturally by lightning and dry weather are rare in the UK.
\r\nThis is an area of growing concern with the National Fire Chiefs Council\u202Fstating that 2025 broke UK records for the most reported incidents of wildfires, surpassing the previous record in 2022. On 1 May this year, an area the size of 480 football pitches was burned in parts of the Peak District.
","secondaryDescription":"The cross-party Committee may also explore how improved monitoring and data sharing across organisations and areas of the country could improve preparedness.
\r\nConcerns raised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Local Government Association are likely to prompt questions about fire services’ capacity to investigate the causes of fires due to a lack of specialist resources.
\r\nMPs are also likely to ask how responsibility for different aspects of wildfire management are shared between various parts of government, including Defra, the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and devolved administrations. MHCLG took responsibility for fire brigades from the Home Office in 2025, and Defra is responsible for engaging with land managers about wildfire mitigation and adaptation planning.
\r\nThese mitigations can include ensuring the health of peatland and managing ‘fuel loads’ of dead, dry vegetation on moorland.
\r\n","parliamentTvUrl":"https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/a021f38c-0086-4f8a-adef-c75eebf8caaf","id":27553,"name":"Environment, Food and Rural Affairs","startDate":"2026-06-23T09:30:00","endDate":"2026-06-23T12:30:00","cancelledDate":null,"locationId":13,"location":"Room 6, Palace of Westminster","eventType":{"id":6,"name":"Formal meeting (oral evidence session)","isVisit":false,"description":"Formal meetings may be held in private (for example to consider a draft report) or in public (for example to hear oral evidence), and require a minimum number of members to be present."},"eventSource":"CIS","committees":[{"contact":{"email":"efracom@parliament.uk","phone":null,"address":"Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA","contactDisclaimer":"We receive a significant number of emails each day. All requests and invitations are considered but we do not respond directly to everyone.\r\nPlease be aware, the committee does not look at individual cases or specific complaints."},"id":52,"name":"Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee","parentCommittee":null,"subCommittees":[],"house":"Commons","leadHouse":null,"category":{"id":1,"name":"Select"},"committeeTypes":[{"id":1,"name":"(HC) Public Standing Orders - Departmental","committeeCategory":{"id":1,"name":"Select"}}],"showOnWebsite":true,"websiteLegacyUrl":"https://old.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/","websiteLegacyRedirectEnabled":false,"startDate":"2001-07-16T00:00:00","endDate":null,"dateCommonsAppointed":"2024-10-21T00:00:00","dateLordsAppointed":null,"scrutinisingDepartments":[{"departmentId":18,"name":"Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"}],"isLeadCommittee":true,"nameHistory":[{"id":51,"committeeId":52,"name":"Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee","startDate":"2001-07-16T00:00:00","endDate":null}]}],"committeeBusinesses":[{"id":9339,"title":"Climate adaptation and emergency response","type":{"id":1,"name":"Inquiry","isInquiry":true,"description":"Inquiries allow committees to consider oral and written evidence on a particular topic. They usually result in the publication of a report."},"openDate":"2025-09-09T00:00:00","closeDate":null,"latestReport":null,"openSubmissionPeriods":[],"closedSubmissionPeriods":[],"nextOralEvidenceSession":null,"contact":{"email":"efracom@parliament.uk","phone":null,"address":null,"contactDisclaimer":null}}],"childEvents":[],"nextActivity":null,"activities":[{"committeeBusinesses":[{"id":9339,"title":"Climate adaptation and emergency response","type":{"id":1,"name":"Inquiry","isInquiry":true,"description":"Inquiries allow committees to consider oral and written evidence on a particular topic. They usually result in the publication of a report."},"openDate":"2025-09-09T00:00:00","closeDate":null,"latestReport":null,"openSubmissionPeriods":[],"closedSubmissionPeriods":[],"nextOralEvidenceSession":null,"contact":{"email":"efracom@parliament.uk","phone":null,"address":null,"contactDisclaimer":null}}],"oralEvidences":[],"id":37850,"name":"Environment, Food and Rural Affairs","startDate":"2026-06-23T10:00:00","endDate":"2026-06-23T12:30:00","eventId":27553,"isPrivate":false,"activityType":"Oral evidence","attendees":[{"displayOrder":1,"organisations":[{"name":"Forestry Commission","role":"Wildfire and Contingency Planning Advisor","idmsId":"https://id.parliament.uk/37qBA1FI","cisId":38166}],"submitterType":0,"additionalContext":null,"id":36053,"personId":122777,"name":"Rob Gazzard MICFor MRICS","photoUrl":null,"memberInfo":null},{"displayOrder":3,"organisations":[{"name":"National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)","role":"Chair","idmsId":null,"cisId":100738}],"submitterType":0,"additionalContext":null,"id":36056,"personId":122778,"name":"Phil Garrigan OBE KSFM","photoUrl":null,"memberInfo":null},{"displayOrder":4,"organisations":[{"name":"National Heat Risk Commission","role":"Chair","idmsId":null,"cisId":112331}],"submitterType":0,"additionalContext":null,"id":36072,"personId":122255,"name":"Professor Emma Howard Boyd CBE","photoUrl":null,"memberInfo":null}]},{"committeeBusinesses":[{"id":9339,"title":"Climate adaptation and emergency response","type":{"id":1,"name":"Inquiry","isInquiry":true,"description":"Inquiries allow committees to consider oral and written evidence on a particular topic. They usually result in the publication of a report."},"openDate":"2025-09-09T00:00:00","closeDate":null,"latestReport":null,"openSubmissionPeriods":[],"closedSubmissionPeriods":[],"nextOralEvidenceSession":null,"contact":{"email":"efracom@parliament.uk","phone":null,"address":null,"contactDisclaimer":null}}],"oralEvidences":[],"id":38031,"name":"EFRA Committee","startDate":"2026-06-23T11:00:00","endDate":"2026-06-23T12:00:00","eventId":27553,"isPrivate":false,"activityType":"Oral evidence","attendees":[{"displayOrder":1,"organisations":[{"name":"Peak District moorland group","role":"Group Coordinator","idmsId":null,"cisId":112660}],"submitterType":0,"additionalContext":null,"id":36057,"personId":122779,"name":"Richard Bailey","photoUrl":null,"memberInfo":null},{"displayOrder":2,"organisations":[{"name":"Natural England","role":"Chief Scientist","idmsId":"https://id.parliament.uk/IeinjmsI","cisId":59279}],"submitterType":0,"additionalContext":null,"id":36058,"personId":122780,"name":"Professor Sallie Bailey","photoUrl":null,"memberInfo":null},{"displayOrder":3,"organisations":[{"name":"Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust","role":"Policy Officer","idmsId":"https://id.parliament.uk/MY8A5uEB","cisId":39133}],"submitterType":0,"additionalContext":null,"id":36059,"personId":45918,"name":"Henrietta Appleton","photoUrl":null,"memberInfo":null}]}]}