Government funds North York Moors wildfire recovery with up to £3.2m

Up to £3.2m of government funding will repair firebreaks and restore peatland on Fylingdales Moor after the 2025 wildfire that burned for six weeks. The Government is providing up to £3.2m to restore moorland and peatland in the North York Moors National Park devastated by the Fylingdales wildfire of summer 2025. The money, routed to the North York Moors National Park Authority through the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, will repair 17km of firebreaks dug to contain the blaze, stabilise damaged slopes, restore peatland species such as sphagnum moss and reinstate public rights of way.

Background on the Fylingdales wildfire

The Fylingdales fire burned for more than six weeks between August and September 2025 and was declared a national incident because of its proximity to critical national infrastructure. At its peak it covered around 20 square kilometres. The Fire and Rescue Service report concluded the fire began from a campfire and spread undetected through deep peat.

Nature minister Mary Creagh said the fire was “an unprecedented event that caused serious and lasting damage to one of England’s most treasured landscapes”, adding that “resilient, rewetted peatland is our best natural defence against wildfires in the future”.

North York Moors National Park Authority chief executive Tom Hind said it had taken “a monumental team effort from fire and rescue services, local farmers and land managers and local agencies” to extinguish the blaze, and that the funding was “a significant step forward” in restoring the landscape and building resilience to climate change.

What does the funding mean?

The award lands amid a continuing debate over upland fire management, days after the Court of Appeal refused the Moorland Association permission to challenge Defra’s restrictions on controlled burning over deep peat.

The Government funding will be matched by contributions linked to Anglo American’s Woodsmith and ICL’s Boulby mines and by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.