00:00I think this morning's summit was a really important step forward in getting all those partners that need to work
00:07together to face up to the changing climate threat and how that makes the threat of wildfires more real.
00:13Everybody around that table now have that sense of unity, I think.
00:17We're looking at a whole range of ways of making sure that the land is managed in order to reduce
00:24the risk of wildfires.
00:26We can look at individual elements around that, around burning, around how much vegetation there is, around how wet we
00:34make the land in different ways.
00:37It's never one thing. Aerial support is part of the story that we need to strengthen moving forward.
00:44It is something that I have raised directly with UK government in a COBRA meeting this summer.
00:50I think that this is something that we look at on a UK-wide basis, but we have to get
00:56all the fundamentals of our response right.
00:59I actually come from an aviation background, so I was a pilot in the Royal Air Force before I joined
01:03here two years ago.
01:05One of my observations is that the aerial support is not prioritised, not tasked, so you grab a helicopter where
01:13you can.
01:14Also, helicopters are not held at high readiness, and for a helicopter firefighter response to be effective, you need to
01:21get to the point of ignition as quickly as possible.
01:2348 hours later is not good enough.
01:26So that is the situation.
01:29There are only about five operators in the UK that provide aerial firefighting support, and they're also in relatively small
01:35helicopters.
01:35They are very good at what they do, and when they do arrive, they're very flexible, and I've been deeply
01:40impressed with some of the flying that's been going on as well.
01:42But what we don't have is a coherent system in the UK for tasking, prioritisation, and also we don't have
01:52enough assets in the UK.
01:55So separately to my job at South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, I also am one of the members of
02:00the National Fire Chiefs Council.
02:01And given my background, I have helped the Fire Chiefs Council to prepare a proposition to the UK government about
02:09wildfire aerial support.
02:11Now, that isn't just about getting water onto a fire.
02:17It's actually looking at the holistic view.
02:19You can use air and space assets for many, many things.
02:22So prediction, prevention, even arson prevention.
02:27You can start monitoring the land using drones and satellite systems.
02:32You can identify ignition points much, much more quickly.
02:35We cannot escape the reality that this will happen more and more into future years.
02:41And that's a fundamental challenge to all of us who care about Wales.
02:46One of the things that we absolutely can do, if not to reverse climate change, is to change our response
02:54and add urgency to the response in tackling it.
02:59You
