Marsden Moor fires 'devastation' prompts public meeting

More details of investigations into a spate of devastating fires on moorland in West Yorkshire are expected to be revealed at a meeting later this week.

A fire on Marsden Moor at the weekend was the eighth there in four months.

Police and fire service representatives as well as moorland rangers were all expected to speak at the public meeting on Wednesday, the National Trust said.

Birdlife, frogs and soil had all been destroyed by the recent moorland fires, a trust spokesperson said.

Rangers and fire crews were still on site near Butterley Reservoir on Marsden Moor following the latest in a series of moorland blazes, they added.

Kate Divey-Matthews, landscape officer for the National Trust, which owns Marsden Moor, said more than 1 sq mile (3 sq km) of moorland in West Yorkshire had been destroyed by fire this year alone.

In April, two fires on Pule Hill and the Wessenden Valley started just hours apart and were being investigated as arson.

Ms Divey-Mathews said Wednesday's meeting at the Marsden Mechanics Institute would be "a chance for the public to learn more about the devastation these fires have caused to this landscape, why they spread so quickly and what we can do to prevent future fires".

"We've seen burnt nests, curlew eggs and frogs. The fires have also destroyed biodiversity and damaged peat soils, which are important for water quality and carbon capture," she added.

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