Heat-seeking drones used to find hotspots after moorland fires

United Utilities said pockets of heat remain despite recent rain and could cause fires to reignite.

Teams from the water company are continuing to patrol the moors and extinguish hotspots after the major fire incidents were scaled back.

Thermal imaging drones can scan large areas and identify pockets of heat which can be difficult for teams on the ground to find.

When a hotspot is detected, its GPS coordinates are passed to teams who travel to the location to extinguish it.

United Utilities said some of its staff had already been trained as drone pilots to monitor infrastructure in remote areas.

Lindsay Page, United Utilities' lead for Water Services in Greater Manchester, said: “Although there are no longer any visible flames and even with the recent rain, our teams are still out there every day. When fire burns on peatland, it can form pockets of heat underground and there is a risk of these re-igniting.

“Monitoring these from the ground is challenging as teams need to scan large areas for signs of smoke which can be difficult to spot.

“These new thermal imaging drones are game-changing as they pinpoint the problem areas so we can target our resources to the right place at the right time.”

United Utilities said it had worked alongside the emergency services since the fires broke out at the end of June.

At the height of the fires, the company provided helicopters which made around 2,000 trips and dropped more than 20 million litres of water.

Fire and rescue services also pumped water from reservoirs.

United Utilities teams have worked with organisations including the RSPB, Derbyshire Mountain Rescue and Peak District National Park during the response.

Ms Page added: “It is still a difficult task as team are working in very challenging terrain and carrying heavy loads of water with them but now they can head out knowing just where to go. It really is a case of X marks the spot.

“As well as helping them to be precise in targeting the areas that need attention, it also speeds things up a lot because they aren’t spending hours scanning for hotspots.”

Temporary dams containing thousands of litres of water remain across the moors to provide supplies for teams extinguishing hotspots.

United Utilities said the thermal drones could also be used for environmental monitoring, infrastructure assessments and leakage detection.