Burnham to unveil AI wildfire unit after record summer

Plans for a new artificial intelligence unit to detect wildfires will be set out by Andy Burnham at the government's first wildfire resilience summit on Friday. The unit would sit in the National Situation Centre, part of the Cobra briefing rooms, and the government says it would let authorities "spot and fight fires faster".

The announcement follows the UK's hottest summer on record, when prolonged dry spells and extreme heat drove blazes across the country and triggered an emergency mobile phone alert in England and Wales. Figures released on 8 October showed the number of fires recorded each year is trending upwards, and the Met Office found the climate crisis made this year's extreme heat about 130 times more likely.

Google, Airbus and VodafoneThree are expected at the summit to explain how satellite monitoring and early warning systems could help. The prime minister will also commit £45m for fire crews to buy wildfire-specific protective equipment, after the Guardian reported that more than half of the 29 fire services responding to requests for information had none. Among them was Suffolk fire and rescue service, which tackled an "apocalyptic" blaze near the Sizewell B nuclear power station that destroyed large areas of a protected nature reserve. Standard respirators do not filter dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide, which is heavily present in wildfire smoke, and standard kit can be too hot and heavy, causing crews to overheat or remove it.

Military planes and helicopters will be made available for remote moorland, steep hillsides and other hard-to-reach terrain. Defence secretary Wes Streeting said defence would "step up to provide greater support to our emergency services" as the threat grows. The government will also examine tougher local restrictions or product bans during high-risk periods.

Farmers will receive funding to make landscapes more resilient, alongside £25m to restore dried-out peatlands in England so they hold more water and act as natural firebreaks. The grant scheme is expected to run from April 2027 to April 2029. Campaigner Guy Shrubsole said the grant would help reverse decades of damage from drained bogs but must be followed by further landscape recovery funding and duties on landowners. The prime minister said: "I stood in Stourbridge and watched families lose everything. I will never forget it. Our firefighters were heroes that day, but heroes shouldn't have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs."