'Substantial' rise in grass fire callouts, say South Wales Fire and Rescue

The warm weather has brought more than 100 calls to grass fires for South Wales Fire and Rescue over the weekend.

The worst case was where 10 hectares of land was alight for nine hours at Bryn Arw, near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire.

Crews in other parts of Wales were called to Foel Mountain in Cwmafan near Port Talbot, and a fire in Newtown.

Fires were also tackled at Bangor Mountain and Porthmadog in Gwynedd, and on Van mountain in Llanidloes, Powys.

"We had quite a substantial increase in calls over the weekend," said Chris Hadfield, head of fire crime at South Wales Fire and Rescue service.

"These fires are certainly unpredictable and can spread quickly. It really does place a big impact on us."

Mr Hadfield said it was not known if the fires were started deliberately but warned anyone caught would be prosecuted.

"From the calls we had, it's very, very difficult to tell unless we catch people in the act," he added.

"There's no coincidence that there's good weather and grass fires.

"With the police this year, we've got patrols we've set up and we've got dedicated teams working in the area."

Parts of Wales were reported to have had the UK's hottest day of the year so far on Saturday.

Porthmadog in Gwynedd saw a temperature of 21.7C (71F), while the Ceredigion town of Aberystwyth, further along the coast, saw 21.2C (70F).

The warm weather is set to continue this week.