'It takes one barbecue to start a massive moor fire'

There are calls to ban the sale of disposable barbecues in the wake of devastating moor fires in West and North Yorkshire.

In 2019, a fire in Marsden burned for days with the eventual cause put down to an abandoned barbecue.

Meanwhile David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, is leading a campaign to have them removed from shelves after his region suffered its worst-ever moor fire last summer.

Marsden residents and business owners have shared their thoughts on the implications of a barbecue ban.

Sadie Cooper runs Cooper's Corner Cafe on Peel Street.

The 36-year-old says recent fires - there was a spate in April - meant the town was often cloaked in smoke.

"I feel like it's a really good idea, when we're in a place that's covered in loads of moorland."

Cooper says: "It just takes one of them (portable barbecue), well I've seen it in the past... it can set a massive moor fire off that goes for days.

"So I'm in favour of it."

She says the fires do not affect her business directly but the smoke makes it difficult for people with health conditions.

Her grandmother Pauline Cooper, 76, has lived in Marsden since she was six years old.

"I'm in agreement with it because of the fires that we're having nowadays and wildlife being killed," she says.

"There are so many fires, it's not just in one place. It's a few places at once.

"In the early years when I first moved here, there was just safe burning off. It was regulated and it was alright."

Ann-Marie Williams, 48, lives near Castle Hill close to Huddersfield town centre.

She witnessed a grass fire last year which devastated a rabbit population living on banking near the well-known landmark.

The assembly line worker says people who live in towns and cities might not respect the countryside as they should.

"It's hard to enforce on the moors, it's a vast area. People park where they want and walk where they want," she says.

"It's a hard thing to police unless a ban comes into force or it's limited in certain areas maybe."

Dave MacDougall is an IT consultant who lives in nearby Meltham which has also suffered its fair share of moor fires.

The 50-year-old says: "Rather than people just being able to go anywhere they like on the moors, I think what they should do is go to a controlled environment which has got a cornered-off area.

"So that means the fires or the barbecues can't spread into the moorland and ruin the beautiful place that we live in."

The Co-op has stores in both Marsden and Meltham as well as nearby Slaithwaite which has also had moor fires.

A spokesperson said: "We do not sell disposable barbecues in our stores situated in and within a one-mile radius of National Parks, which includes our Marsden and Meltham stores."

The spokesperson said it was the first supermarket in the UK to take this approach.

In the absence of any ban, National Trust countryside manager for West Yorkshire Rosie Holdsworth says the public should stick to some basic rules to protect the countryside.

This includes not using any naked flame on the moors or any type of barbecue.

She says: "If you do see something that isn't right, if you see smoke, if you see someone else having a barbecue, call it in to 999.

"The fire service would far rather come and put out a lit barbecue than put out a 300-hectare fire."

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