Firefighters call for water bomb aircraft to tackle wildfires

Firefighters have called for “wildfire-fighting aircraft” to help combat spate of blazes as Britain braces for another heatwave, with temperatures likely to top 35°C. UK fire brigades do not have direct access to water-bombing planes that can drop up to six tonnes of water onto a blaze, while Britain’s military firefighting helicopters are all deployed in Cyprus. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU), which represents around 34,000 men and women in the fire and rescue service across the UK, has called for access to aerial firefighting capabilities where “appropriate” to combat a looming risk of larger and more complex wildfires. Shorts Ministers are understood to be looking closely at which kit is needed now and in the future, including aerial assets, to improve UK capabilities. But The i Paper understands that the military has not yet been asked to support the Government in tackling the wildfires. Any such measure, including the deployment of the RAF’s Chinook firefighting helicopters, would have to come via a “military aid to the civil authorities” request. This has previously been used to deploy troops during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2021 fuel crisis. It comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesday afternoon in response to the extreme heat, the second this summer and the first of his premiership. We want best tech available, say firefighters The UK faces its sixth heatwave of the year, as temperatures surge and the Met Office warns the nation is on course for the hottest summer on record. The dry conditions have meant that around 1,017 wildfires have devastated vegetation across England and Wales so far in 2026, the same as the record-breaking total for the whole of last year, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council. “Our members want the best possible technology to tackle wildfires effectively,” an FBU spokesperson told The i Paper. “And where wildfire-fighting aircraft are appropriate, we would advocate for their introduction.” Currently, the UK does not have any water-bombing aircraft such as Canadair “super scooper” planes, which cost around €50m and can scoop up more than six tonnes of water from lakes or the sea to drop onto wildfires. The military is reportedly in talks to bring its Chinook helicopters, which drop water from a huge bucket suspended below the aircraft, back from Cyprus to fight wildfires in the UK, after The i Paper revealed they could not be deployed. “We need a national strategy for combating and mitigating wildfires which will be multipronged, and will include the best possible equipment, adequate PPE and thousands more trained firefighters,” the FBU added. An RAF source told The i Paper that Chinook helicopters in Britain could theoretically be used to combat fires. But the UK has none of the “bambi” buckets which scoop water out of the sea or large lakes to drop over wildfires. The RAF, which has a base in Cyprus, is committed to helping fight wild fires there, and does deploy Chinooks with the “bambi” buckets there. A Chinook helicopter practices picking up and dropping water from a firefighting water bucket in Portland harbour, in Dorset (Photo: Finnbarr Webster/Getty) National priority Steve Wright, the FBU general secretary, recently said it must be a “national priority” to have enough properly equipped firefighters as brigades face increased pressure due to an “unprecedented summer of dangerous and volatile wildfires”. Wildfires are currently burning across the UK, with a major blaze in the New Forest covering around 1.6 kilometres, equivalent to the size of around 230 football pitches, according to Hampshire County Council. The fire service is also still attending to ongoing blazes in Cairngorms National Park in Scotland as well as a heathland fire in Suffolk, around three miles from Sizewell B, Britain’s largest nuclear power station. In July, the Ministry of Defence admitted that there were no water-bombing aircraft in the UK after the Scottish Government requested help to fight the Cairngorms fires. It offered instead Chinooks to help with logistics and lifting heavy loads. The Mediterranean has been gripped by wildfires, with opposition politicians criticising French President Emmanuel Macron for not having enough operational Canadairs, while the Spanish government has been accused of “weakness of the entire fleet”. France already has 12 Canadairs, supplemented by other planes and helicopters, while Spain has 14, and the EU has ordered 12 planes to assemble its own fleet. It is understood that the Government is trialling wildfire response teams of firefighters trained in tactics in other countries prone to wildfires, such as South Africa and Poland, under a £97m investment to upgrade national resilience capabilities. The Government has been contacted for comment.