Green Party Leader Zack Polanski on Wednesday Called for Fossil Fuel Companies to Fund Firefighting Helicopters, Saying They Are Profiting

Speaking at a press conference in central London alongside BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham, Polanski warned, "We are facing the biggest threat to this country since the Second World War, and urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to "be truthful, be brave" and halt new North Sea oil and gas drilling, specifically naming the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields off the Scottish coast. Recent blazes included incidents at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk, Llanwonno in the Rhondda Valleys, South Wales, and within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Polanski said ministers had produced "no emergency briefings, no new plan and precious little detail" since the fires, adding, "We need a robust wildfire prevention strategy, a fire service with the resources it needs to tackle blazes when they come.

And that must include firefighting helicopters when needed and not again ever seeing the shocking sight of requiring a charity to step in to contract a private firm to help fight fires. And this should all be funded by taxing the fossil fuel giants. He also called for water companies to be taken "into public hands, saying "money is flowing out of our hands into the pockets of shareholders, just like water is flowing out of those companies' leaky pipes in the middle of a drought. Packham advocated for a public wildfire warning system, a ban on disposable barbecues, a "transition to a plant-based diet, and said, "We should certainly criminalise irresponsible journalism.