Dorset fire service declares major incident over wildfires

The fire service declared a major incident at 8pm on 13 August, citing the red wildfire alert and 277 outdoor fires in July. What is banned, and what to do.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident at 8pm on Wednesday 13 August, and it was still in force on Thursday morning. The service says it took the step “due to the high number of incidents, the red wildfire alert, drought conditions and extreme heat impacting across the service area”. (Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, 13 August 2026)

A major incident declaration is a resourcing decision rather than a warning about one particular fire. It lets the service change how it crews and mobilises, and draw on help from other fire and rescue services. The service’s own message to residents is blunt on the point that matters most: “We are working hard to respond to emergency calls as quickly as possible and want to reassure the public that if you dial 999 for the fire service, you will get help.”

Why now

Two days earlier, on 11 August, the service published the figure behind the decision. Its crews attended 277 grassland, woodland and crop fires in July, its second busiest month in five years. Only August 2022, with 289, was higher. Crews have also been sent out of the county to help with wildfires in Suffolk and Hampshire, most recently in the New Forest off the A31. (DWFRS, 11 August 2026)

Area Manager Marc House said: “The figures are reflective of how challenging this summer has been, but we are very grateful to the vast majority of people who have followed our advice and avoided activity that could lead to a fire starting.”

The weather sits underneath all of it. The UK Health Security Agency has had an amber heat-health alert covering the South West since midday on 11 August, running to 9pm on Friday 14 August, the level at which it judges significant impacts on health and care services to be likely. (UKHSA weather-health alerts) Wessex Water, which supplies most of the Dorset Council area, recorded just 2mm of rain across its region in July, 4% of the long-term average for the month. (Wessex Water water resources, July 2026 update)

How this differs from last August

This is the second August running that the service has declared a major incident, but for a different reason. The declaration on 9 August 2025 was for one fire: around 100 firefighters at a blaze roughly 1,000m by 800m at Holt Heath, near Wimborne, with 20 homes evacuated as a precaution and the Holt road closed at the junction with Higher Road. (DWFRS, 9 August 2025) That fire eventually burned about 72 hectares and drew in support from 17 other fire and rescue services. (DWFRS, Holt Heath incident)

This year’s declaration is about volume: the number of calls coming in at once, across two counties, in the middle of the fifth heatwave of the summer.

What it means for you

Nothing about the declaration changes what you should do in an emergency. Dial 999 and you will get a fire response. What it does change is the margin the service is working with, which is why its advice this week is specific rather than general.

While the red wildfire alert holds, the service asks people across Dorset to:

Put cigarettes out properly. Do not drop them on the ground or throw them from a vehicle.
Do not use a barbecue on heathland or open space. That includes disposable ones. The risk of a fire starting is judged too great.
Do not light bonfires or open fires, and avoid campfires, camping stoves, beach flares, fireworks and sky lanterns, particularly near cliffs.
Report any fire in the countryside straight away. Do not assume somebody else has called it in.

If you come across a fire in the open, the service’s instruction is to move to a safe place first, note where you are, call 999, and then meet the crews at the entrance to the site so they can find it quickly. Use what3words if you can: on a heath or in a forest, a three-word location is far more use than a road name. Do not try to tackle anything bigger than you could put out with a bucket of water.

There is a cost argument too, which the service made itself on 16 July. It had attended 382 grassland, woodland or crop fires since the start of 2026, and said each of its last two major incidents involving outdoor fires cost more than £500,000 to respond to. Assistant Chief Fire Officer Dave Waters said: “The financial impact of large outdoor fires is significant.” (DWFRS, 16 July 2026)

If you believe a fire has been set deliberately, the service asks people to call 999 for the police, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Where to check for updates

The service publishes its own incident log and news releases, and that is the first place any change to the major incident status will appear. Its news and incidents page lists both, with times.

Water restrictions differ across Dorset depending on who supplies your home, and that has caught a lot of people out this month. We have set out which parts of Dorset are covered by a hosepipe ban and which are not.

For roadworks and closures across the county, our Dorset roadworks and travel page is updated from the council’s own live programme.