Wildfire Grips Elan Valley in Wales, 12,000 Acres Affected

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said crews have been responding to the fires in and around the Elan Valley area, in Powys, since Sunday. A helicopter has been deployed to drop water on high risk areas, and National Trust Cymru confirmed Hafod Estate has been closed to the public as a precaution until further notice. Firefighters are currently responding to the fires near Claerwen Reservoir and Teifi Pools, and have urged people not to visit the area. Glyndwr Jones, a shepherd who lives at Claerwen Dam, described the fire as "quite frightening". It is home to four dams - Craig Goch, Garreg Ddu, Pen y Garreg and Caban Coch - which were built more than 120 years ago to supply clean water to Birmingham, then later to mid and south Wales. The fire service have asked local residents to keep their windows and doors closed if there is thick smoke. Meanwhile, South West Fire and Rescue Service said a wildfire was being tackled on Cowbridge Common, Vale of Glamorgan, on Wednesday. Jones, who has been a shepherd for the Elan Valley Trust for 26 years, said the fire had created uncertainty and he will not know the financial impact until it has been put out. "As a shepherd, I think about the stock," he said, adding that he was concerned about lambs that had been on the hills "all winter". "It's a big, big area. Big farms up this area. What are we talking, between 10,000 and 12,000 acres - could be more even, but it's a job to say," he said. "I've been here 26 years. Not many years at all to compare with these tenanted farms on the top here. "There's not many of them that'll say they've seen a fire like this, on this side of the Claerwen Dam. "It's not a nice thing to have about, because it's so vast." Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said a helicopter had been deployed to drop water onto the wildfires because of a high risk to nature and lack of significant rainfall over the coming days. According to BBC Weather, rain is not forecast in the area until Friday, with Thursday set to bring dry conditions and a moderate breeze. "The helicopter is expected to carry out targeted water drops on the Elan Valley wildfire during the next few hours to extinguish or lessen the impacts of the fire," he said.