Guidance

Assessment of potential wildfire risk resulting from planned deforestation to open habitat: operations note 40

Updated 13 March 2019

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Date: 8 September 2020

1. Purpose

This Operations Note seeks to ensure a consistent approach to the planning and assessment of proposals for deforestation (or heavy tree number / canopy cover reduction), and the potential increase in wildfire risk resulting from those proposals. This note provides:

• an identification of risks from wildfire, and processes to ensure wildfire risk is fully considered when planning and assessing proposals for deforestation under Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) (Forestry) regulations
• advice for project proposers on when to engage with relevant Fire and Rescue Authorities when considering a deforestation project or when preparing a Wildfire Management Plan
• guidance for Fire and Rescue Authorities when responding to requests for advice on proposals for deforestation (or heavy tree reduction) projects, and responding to formal consultation on those proposals

2. Background

The risk of wildfire incidents and their impacts may increase where forest or woodland is converted to, in particular, heathland or grassland, and where significant vegetation and timber debris remain on the converted site. Failure to adequately address wildfire risk may threaten human life, property and the wider environment. Whilst incidents will always be a threat, the risk and impact of significant wildfires can be reduced.

3. Context – policy and regulation

A key element when considering prevention of significant wildfire incidents and reduction of the impact of wildfire is in understanding the level of resilience inherent in the land use type, and how this is affected by management practice.

The effectiveness of the response to a wildfire incident can be greatly enhanced by pre-planned and effective control measures. All but the most extreme wildfire incidents and their impacts can be mitigated using appropriate control / response measures. Enhanced resilience to wildfire is best achieved through consultation with key stakeholders and the application of good practice. Various policies and regulations exist, and overlap, and must be considered when planning operations that will potentially increase or create a wildfire risk.

3.1 The Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) Regulations 1999

EIA forestry regulations require that any potential environmental impacts arising from proposals for deforestation (and potentially for afforestation) are assessed by the project proposer before seeking the opinion of the Relevant Authority, or their consent. In England that is the Forestry Commission. This means that a project proposer is required to identify risks associated with their project and should seek information and advice to help with the planning, delivery and long term sustainability of the project. They should identify any potential impacts (direct and indirect) on people and places (including the architectural and archaeological heritage), flora and fauna, soil, water, air, and the wider landscape. This includes considering the lifetime of the project, so understanding how a deforestation project is to be sustained, or how it will be managed if it is not sustained or if any of the project driver’s change, are important factors. In most forestry projects, the potential impacts of wildfire can be avoided or mitigated. Information on EIA and deforestation projects can be found on GOV.UK, on the Assess environmental impact before felling trees page.

3.2 Open Habitats Policy

There is a government policy on ‘When to convert woods and forests to open habitat in England’. The policy indicates that open habitats generally present an increased wildfire risk than woodland habitat alone, and that people using open habitats increase that risk further. In particular, a greater risk of wildfire exists on lowland heathland and grassland habitat types. Forest Services will routinely look at the risk factors and potential impact of wildfire as part of the EIA screening process for all proposals seeking to convert woodland to open habitat. Where wildfire risk can be identified as a significant issue, the project proposer is expected to liaise with the local fire authority in order to seek advice on, and agreement of, appropriate mitigation and control measures.

3.3 Fire and Rescue Service Act (2004)

The Fire and Rescue Service Act (2004) places duties on Fire and Rescue Authorities, and these duties are discharged using the Fire and Rescue Services.

The duties include providing information, publicity and encouragement to prevent fires, and the provision of fire safety (including advice), as well as firefighting for the purpose of extinguishing fires and protecting life and property. Natural England has identified wildfire as a key threat and it is assessed as a significant risk in the Natural England and National Fire Chief Councils adaptation report / plan in response to the Climate Change Risk Assessment.

The National Risk Register and Assessment

The National Risk Register defines wildfire as a natural hazard that authorities defined in the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), such as Fire and Rescue Authorities, must assess, plan for and advise on. The risk rating of ‘Severe Wildfire’ or ‘Forest and Moorland Fires’ will have been assessed in Community Risk Registers by Local Resilience Forums. Further guidance may be available through the relevant community risk register when you look to determine what might be appropriate measures for wildfire prevention. The lead government organisation is the Home Office, who in turn pass wildfire prevention to the 45 Fire and Rescue Services across England.

FC National Emergency Plan

Forestry Commission England’s National Emergency Plan provides a list of Subject Matter Advisers (SMAs) for contingency planning requirements. The woodland wildfire SMA role is to provide help during a response, but they can also advise on wildfire prevention options for open habitat restoration, such as mitigation, adaptation, control measures and use of wildfire prevention tool kits, as well as help to interpret the Forestry Commission Practice Guide - Building Wildfire Resilience in Forest Management Planning.

4. Planning for wildfire

As part of preparing for any land use change away from woodland cover, a project proposer is expected to assess the probable environmental risks and impacts from the change proposed and, in respect of wildfire, may be required to provide a Wildfire Management Plan where a risk from wildfire is identified.

4.1 Identifying risks

Using the survey templates provided in this guidance, project proposers should survey the site proposed for land use change, and all neighbouring land (where possible) to identify existing habitats, land use etc., and determine what level of wildfire risk exists, and how this may change by implementing a deforestation project. Some of the factors that need to be considered are detailed below.

Relevant adjacency

Wildfire incidents can be highly dynamic, quickly moving from the land where the ignition occurred and into to other adjacent habitats, especially when driven by wind. Wildfire can be significantly influenced by topology and vegetation, particularly where vegetation is of a dry and flammable nature (for example, heathland). In respect of wildfire, a deforestation proposal must consider the whole of the spatial area (the landscape scale) of the project and its surroundings, the operations involved in deforestation, and the aftercare required in maintaining open habitat status.

Distance between projects - considering coalescence

In particular, areas adjacent to the project boundary that contain “high risk” habitats (e.g. existing lowland heath or grassland habitat types), within or outside the land holding should be considered in terms of wildfire risk. The importance of distance between projects of a similar type is dependent upon the habitat type the new project is creating, the type of adjacent habitats already in existence, and the time elapsed since previous projects were undertaken / how much successful restoration has been achieved. These factors directly affect the likely wildfire risk, and future wildfire behaviour. When considering the distance between projects of a similar nature, particularly in terms of wildfire, numerous other factors should also be considered, such as fuel loading (brash, timber, stumps left on site), topography, aspect, wind direction, effective engagement with other landowners, the open habitat management regimes, and financial sustainability of the aftercare.

Management timescales

Timescales over which assessment of wildfire risk and impact should be considered are short, medium and long term. These impacts will be determined by the initial land use change (from – to), and the recovery (time it takes) from project implementation to open habitat vegetation fully colonising. See Table 1 below:

Table 1 – Timescales for management of habitats

Habitat type	Short timescale	Medium timescale	Long timescale
Grassland	Period of project implementation	5 years	‘In perpetuity’
Heatland	Period of project implementation	25 years	‘In perpetuity’

Other environmental factors

For wildfire risk, we must consider the threat to other environmental social and economic factors too (for example, impacts on people, property and business, water and air quality, infrastructure, wider flora and fauna, and, for significant projects in sensitive locations, landscape and soils).

4.2 Stakeholder engagement

Undertaking relevant stakeholder engagement will help inform the project as to the concerns of others who may be affected by or have to respond to a wildfire incident resulting from the project. For any open habitat project being restored from woodland cover, a record of stakeholders that are engaged should be created, and responses received should be recorded and addressed within the project planning process. Evidence of stakeholder engagement will be required when seeking an EIA Opinion or Consent of the Forestry Commission.

A list of suggested stakeholder groups is detailed in Appendix E.

A draft template letter for contacting the relevant Fire and Rescue Service is provided in Appendix F.

4.3 Existing wildfire precautions

When considering wildfire risk, it is equally important to recognise what fire control and planning is already in place. A completely new project may have none, but extending an existing project may already have adequate identification of risk, precautions and controls in place. These need to be clearly identified in any wildfire planning work.

4.4 Is a Wildfire Management Plan required?

In Appendix B and Appendix C, a Wildfire Risk Assessment template and a Wildfire Risks and Hazards Checklist are provided to help project proposers assess the project and determine if a more detailed Wildfire Management Plan is needed. These documents should be used when planning the deforestation project to identify hazards and what could be harmed by or increase the risks of wildfire, and to help find obvious precautions or mitigation to wildfire. Where significant hazards or risks are identified, it is suggested that a Wildfire Management Plan is required. The project proposer should then use the project proposal description and the completed Wildfire Risk Assessment to seek the advice of the relevant Fire and Rescue Authority. Project proposers should use any advice that may be received from the Fire and Rescue Authority to inform the project proposal in advance of a submission for an EIA decision, felling permission or any funding administered by the Forestry Commission or Natural England.

4.5 Templates and checklists

• Appendix A – A Wildfire Management Plan – the minimum requirements
• Appendix B – Wildfire Risk Assessment template and Risk matrix
• Appendix C – Wildfire Risks and Hazards Checklist
• Appendix D – Example - Wildfire Risk Assessment
• Appendix E – Stakeholders to contact
• Appendix F – Template letter to Fire and Rescue Service

5. Preparing a Wildfire Management Plan (WMP)

It is recommend that the creation or restoration of higher risk habitats such as lowland / upland heath and grassland types should require a Wildfire Management Plan, as defined in Appendix A - Table 2, but this may be subject to understanding any existing wildfire controls in place. Supporting guidance is provided in the appendices of Forestry Commissions Practice Guidance ‘Building Wildfire Resilience in Forest Management Planning’, pages 8 and 9. Wildfire Management Plans should provide analysis of previous wildfire incidents. The following appendices provide guidance and templates to help prepare a wildfire risk assessment and a wildfire management plan. A Wildfire Management Plan template can be found on the Ops Note 040 webpage.

5.1 Competent expertise

When planning a deforestation project that requires the Forestry Commission’s EIA consent, the project proposer will need to demonstrate that they have considered wildfire risk, and that (where relevant) they have secured a competent expert to advise on aspects of the project that may themselves increase wildfire risk or that may be affected by risk of wildfire. As the relevant authority, the Forestry Commission will need to be satisfied that the information provided on wildfire by the proposer has been appropriately assessed by a competent expert – someone with relevant qualifications and/or professional experience - before reaching its regulatory decision.

6. FC review of wildfire planning

Proposals for deforestation may arise through:

• an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) application to Forestry Commission England for an EIA opinion or Consent, along with the appropriate application form to convert woodland to open habitat
• a felling licence application, along with the appropriate EIA opinion or consent application and application form to convert woodland to open habitat
• a grant application for woodland removal to an alternative habitat, along with the appropriate application form to convert woodland to open habitat

Applications to undertake deforestation, and potentially other forestry projects, will initially be subjected to an EIA screening process as part of the opinion forming process. The Proposer, when seeking an EIA decision, is required to provide supporting evidence to demonstrate how their project will address any significant environmental impacts. For deforestation projects, this will need to include evidence that a Wildfire Risk Assessment has been completed. Where a Wildfire Management Plan has been produced, it should be assessed as part of the EIA screening process.

The Proposer should, for wildfire related evidence, confirm that a Fire and Rescue Authority has been asked for its advice, and where this is provided, clarify how the advice has been used. Also, where the Fire and Rescue Authority is satisfied with the fire control planning, the Proposer should provide this evidence (see below for contacting Fire and Rescue Services. The Forestry Commission, when screening the proposal, will form an opinion as to whether the project requires EIA Consent or not. The FC Woodland Officer / Field Manager may also contact the relevant Fire and Rescue Authority to confirm that the wildfire risk evidence provided, or the Wildfire Management Plan itself, have been seen by the Fire and Rescue Authority and that they have had an opportunity to respond to the wildfire mitigation proposals. Where the risk factors indicate the likelihood of a significant impact, and/or wildfire mitigation and adaptation is not appropriate, the Woodland Officer and Field Manager will either:

• ask the applicant to reconsider the risks and resubmit the proposal
• decide that the proposal represents a relevant project under EIA and, through EIA scoping, will ask for an Environmental Statement to be produced

The FC Wildfire Subject Matter Adviser can help to advise project proposers and FC staff alike with regards the above questions.

7. Contacting Fire and Rescue Authorities

7.1 Fire and Rescue Authority

A Fire and Rescue Authority has a statutory duty to “make provision for the purpose of fire safety and fire fighting in its area and to plan, assess and advise”. These duties are exercised by a Fire and Rescue Service.

It is strongly recommended that the project proposer contact the local Fire and Rescue Authority covering the project areas in order to seek advice on potential wildfire risk and likely controls. As indicated previously, confirmation that the Fire and Rescue Authority have seen and agreed (or disagreed) with the mitigation and control measures proposed should be submitted to the FC. This decision will help inform our decision making. Where the local Fire and Rescue Authority has identified that they do not have the relevant wildfire expertise to assist, further advice can be sought from local wildfire groups.

7.2 Projects covering two or more Fire and Rescue Authority areas

Where projects cover two or more Fire and Rescue Authority boundaries, all services should be engaged.

7.3 What should the Applicant include in letters?

A template letter is included in Appendix F. However, any letter sent to the relevant Fire and Rescue Authority, seeking advice on wildfire risk management, should request the following information.

• That the Fire and Rescue Authority are being engaged to provide advice and to comment on proposed wildfire mitigation and control measures on a project that is subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) Regulations
• That the Fire and Rescue Authority can obtain further information on Forestry EIAs and the Open Habitats Policy on the relevant Forestry Commission webpage
• That the letter of enquiry is referred to the Fire and Rescue Authority ‘in-house’ wildfire specialist for advice and guidance, if one is available

8. Sources of further advice

• Integrated Risk Management Plan: Wildfire (2008). Department of Communities and Local Government.
• Building Wildfire Resilience in Forest Management Planning: practical guidance (2014). Forestry Commission.
• National Operational Guidance Programme – Wildfire Incidents (2016). UK FRS
• Scottish Wildfire Operations Guidance (2013). Scottish Government.

9. Versions

• Version 2.0, issued 17.09.2018
• Version 3.0, issued 04.03.2019
• Version 5.0, issued 06.11.2019
• Version 6.0, issued 07.09.2020