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Quieter night for crews as major mountain blaze burns on

Gavin Thomas & Catriona Aitken
BBC News
Cwm Rheidol mountain blaze has been burning for days as firefighters strive to get it under control

Wildfires across Wales are beginning to stabilise, firefighters say, after crews worked for several days to get them under control.

Fire crews said they had a quieter night on Tuesday after a number of wildfires in recent days.

On Wednesday morning, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said incidents reported on Tuesday night had been dealt with, with crews due to reinspect Cwm Rheidol, Ceredigion - a mountain blaze that spread across an area the size of 3,500 football pitches.

Meanwhile, Welsh Water said the level of its reservoirs was "slightly lower than the position expected" following the extended period of dry and sunny weather.

The large fires which have lasted for several days around Cwm Rheidol and further south in the county, at Strata Florida, were left to burn overnight as the dark conditions were too dangerous for crews.

Meanwhile, SWFRS said two fire crews were at the scene of a fire between Trelewis and Bedlinog in Merthyr Tydfil county and one appliance was at the scene of another wildfire on Eglwysilian mountain between Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Abertridwr, Caerphilly county.

An infographic of a Google Map which shows the locations of the fire. There are little red fire figures with the name of the location beside each point. There are also location indicators such as Aberaeron, Aberystwyth and the Irish Sea which shows where the fires are.
Large fires around Cwm Rheidol and at Strata Florida, Ceredigion, were left to burn overnight

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said a number of smaller incidents occurred on Tuesday evening, including a gorse fire covering 400 square meters near Llanfairfechan in Conwy county and some burning trees on the Vaynol Estate near Bangor, Gwynedd - both of which were swiftly extinguished.

It added one engine and one wildfire vehicle were called out on Llanfairfechan mountain to monitor the situation there on Tuesday night.

Burnt ground
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service say the majority of fires were deliberately started

The Met Office previously reported that Wales had its driest March since at least 1961 and the conditions have continued through the start of April, with the first sign of any rain expected at the weekend.

Welsh Water said it was "taking usual actions" to manage water supplies but it currently did not have "concerns regarding water resources".

"As we do at any time of the year however, we ask customers to be mindful of how they use water and avoid wasting it, " it said.