Large-scale wildfires are occurring more frequently across the UK. The challenges are enormous: in the middle of nowhere, two-metre-high flames moving faster than anyone can run. It can take days to bring a fire under control, an exhausting ordeal for even the fittest firefighter. An officer said, ‘Wildfires are unlike any other fire, they change on a minute-by-minute basis. One minute a fire is knee-high, the next it’s above your head. It is one of the most arduous fires our crews face. Left unchecked, they rage for miles across the countryside. If the wind changes direction the tail of the fire could become the head, and it spreads in the opposite direction. You can walk for an hour with hand tools wearing boots, jacket, and helmet, before getting to the area you are going to be fighting.’ Conditions are brutal. See also this week’s France article, ‘We are waiting for rain’.