Welsh mountain fires continue to burn as culprits sought

Fire crews are still tackling grass fires on hillsides in south Wales after nearly 80 were started deliberately across the region over the weekend.

Crews are still tackling blazes around Wales with helicopters dropping water in a bid to put out a fire on Machen mountain in Caerphilly county.

Firefighters were also tackling a "substantial fire" on hillsides near Mountain Ash in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Over the weekend, 500 grass fire calls were made to Welsh emergency services.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service has asked the public to help find who started the fires.

Rhondda Cynon Taf council leader Andrew Morgan shared an image of what he said was a "substantial fire" above Darren Las in Mountain Ash on Monday evening and he said fire crews were at the scene.

South Wales Fire ervice said the fire has moved to the Miskin area of the town and was being monitored and contained.

People living in Machen, between Newport and Caerphilly, have been told by the fire service to keep all windows and doors closed as crews dealt with a fire.

"Our communities should be able to enjoy the natural beauty of Wales," South Wales Fire Service tweeted.

"A small minority are intent on damaging our landscape, killing wildlife and endangering the lives of residents and Firefighters. If you know the culprits call 101".

South Wales and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Services said, between them, they had received about 500 calls relating to grass fires since Friday morning.

"The majority of these incidents, unfortunately, have been recorded as deliberate," said Dean Loader, South Wales Fire Service's head of community safety.

"It seems that there's a cultural issue. We've experienced these types of fires for many, many years now.

"We've got lots of educational programs in place where we talk and discuss these issue within schools but yes, it is a big problem for us at the moment.

"We are really unsure about who's actually starting these fires."

Dr Owen Williams, a community councillor in Salem, Carmarthenshire, said the fire there was "devastating for local wildlife".

He added: "It was terrible. There was smoke everywhere and the land has been left completely charred.

"The flames were almost out on the road and eventually the fire brigade had to been called to put it out because it was potentially threatening other fields.

"They seem to happen every year these days. I think people's concerns were that it could spread more widely."

He said there were "concerns and anger" that the fire seemed to have been started deliberately.

Brad Owen, from Mountain Ash, said the fires were "putting people's livelihoods at danger".

"The A4059 which is the main link in and out of the Cynon Valley had to be closed to allow the fire crews to deal with that overnight," he said.

"The firefighters are going from mountain to mountain when they could be out in the community doing normal callouts."

"Every year the fires seem to be getting bigger and more destructive."

"More needs to be done locally with awareness."

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) called grass fires "an age old problem" but said rain was forecast for later in the week.

"Judging by the weather forecast this morning, crews will be pretty pleased to hear we've got some rain on the way," said Cerith Griffiths, executive council member for Wales at the FBU.

"I've been in the fire and rescue service for over 27 years, and this was happening when I first joined, and it's something we've had to deal with year after year."

She said a breeze could lead to "chasing flames" and crews could be tied up for "quite some time".

She added some cases of grass fires were started deliberately.