Military planes and helicopters to be drafted in against UK wildfires
Military planes and helicopters will be drafted in to help fight wildfires, Prime Minister Andy Burnham is to tell the UK's first wildfire summit, according to the BBC.
Under the plan, civilian fire services in all four UK nations will be able to request support from RAF Chinook helicopters and A400M planes. The aircraft are intended for hard-to-reach ground, such as remote moorland and steep hillsides. The government published the announcement under the headline "Military planes and helicopters to fight wildfires from the sky" on 22 October 2026, in a press release from GOV.UK.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said it is the first time the RAF's Chinooks and four-engine A400Ms are being equipped to tackle wildfires.
The summit, which the government will host, is intended to discuss preventing, responding to and recovering from wildfires. It follows what the government describes as a record-breaking summer. The Met Office said summer 2026 was the UK's hottest on record.
Figures from the National Fire Chiefs Council show 1,350 wildfires in England and Wales so far in 2026. That is an all-time high, up by more than 300 on last year and more than 1,000 on 2024. In August, a wildfire destroyed 19 homes in the West Midlands.
The government said it would spend £45m on wildfire-specific personal protective equipment for firefighters. Ministers have also pledged a £25m scheme, running from April 2027 to April 2029, to restore dried-out peatlands in England. The aim, they said, is for the restored areas to act as natural firebreaks.
A "Wildfires AI Unit" is also due to be announced at the summit. It would bring together universities, tech firms and officials from the Cobra emergency committee, the government's central crisis group.
The plans follow a warning from MPs, who said wildfires are the UK's "new reality". They said the country needs firefighting aircraft, tougher prevention measures and a new wildfire strategy.
