‘We stuck together as a team and came through it’

“It was a monster. As fast as you could see, it was moving. The volumes of water we needed were unbelievable.”

Chris Ford’s memories of tackling the ferocious moorland fire on the North York Moors this summer remain very sharp. He was one of many volunteers who put their lives at risk to help tackle the blaze, in the process earning himself the nickname “The Water Guy” thanks to his determination to keep supplies topped up.

Chris was a member of the so-called “Farmy Army”, who worked alongside firefighters as the moorland blaze raged for several weeks.

The fire started at Langdale Moor, near RAF Fylingdales, on 11 August and, at its height, it covered nearly 10 sq miles (25 sq km). It was only on 23 September that the fire service finally said it was no longer being treated as a “major incident”.

On Saturday, Chris had the chance to look back at the summer’s events – and his and others’ vital role in them – as he took part in a special tractor run organised to help rural and coastal communities recover from the trauma of the fire.

The tractor run started in Whitby Marina at 11:00 BST and featured some of the tractors and fire engines used to fight the fire.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Chris said before the event.

“It’s to thank the community who supported us amazingly – and we really needed that support.”

But the tractor run was a far cry from those fraught days spent up on Langdale Moor.

Casting his mind back to mid-August, he describes the extreme pressure of trying to find water sources which had not already been used – during the hottest summer on record – as the fire continued to burn, and burn quickly.

“I remember when the fire was burning, when the smoke turned orange and red you knew you were in trouble, you knew you were in the flames – and I was thinking, ‘am I going to get out of this?” Chris recollects.

Chris and other volunteers returned from one water run – a three mile (5km) trip to the River Esk at Ruswarp – to find the fire had moved nearly another third of a mile (0.5km) away.

“Our main issue was where to get the water from. The ponds were dry. We got to a little river and nearly bled that dry,” he explains.

“It was really serious because we were losing too much time. The fire was gaining on us all the time.

“I rang to someone at the Anglo-American mine [near Whitby]. They let us in and we were really grateful for that. They sent some machines out to do some firebreaks – they did a fantastic job.

“We went to a farm and drained out its old slurry store. After that was all gone, we knew we’d have to go to the sea.”

That meant the water convoy had to dash to Whitby Harbour – and if that trip had not been a success then the fire would have hit the villages of Hawsker and Robin Hood’s Bay, Chris says.

“We were spreading the water on the A171. The fire had already jumped a road and was heading down the moor towards Hawsker. If it had got over the A171, we were in trouble.”

Chris says that despite everything, tiredness didn’t come into it. Pure adrenaline kept the volunteers going.

“We just knew we had to get the job done,” Chris says.

“Our wives were having to drag us off the tractors. It was a massive team effort, all the farmers that came.

“They’ve named me ‘The Water Guy’ and I’ve been doing some of the talking and I know everybody, so I could co-ordinate. That’s how I got the role.”

However, Chris adds: “It was about the team. The firefighters, the top people at the fire service, Ian Thompson at Goathland Fire Station. He’s a farmer, knows us and the area. He was fantastic for us. Everybody did their bit.”

As part of Saturday’s tractor run, those involved headed towards The Flask Inn – in one of the areas hardest hit by the moorland blaze – before heading back to Hawsker Village Hall via Whitby seafront.

The event’s organiser, Amy Cockrem, who raised thousands of pounds for the various communities affected as the fire burned, says: “This isn’t just a thank you to the firefighters and the farmers – it’s a thank you to the whole community for coming out when it mattered most.”

Meanwhile, Chris says everyone involved in fighting this summer’s fire on Langdale Moor can be “very proud” of what they achieved.

“We can still smell smoke in the tractors, but we stuck together as a team and a community and came through it,” he explains.

“It’s not me, it’s what the team achieved. It was the biggest fire we’ve ever had. About 5,000 to 6,000 acres burned. We couldn’t stop it, but we steered it.

“No property burned and not a single person injured in a fire of that size. I think that’s just a credit to everybody and it’s brought a big community together.

“We all knew each other – but we’re best friends now,” he smiles.