AS A massive fire raged across a mountainside last year offers of help from people who knew the area better than most were ignored, it has been claimed.

Between July 18 and September 25 about 700 acres of Llantysilio mountain, near the Horseshoe Pass, were damaged during the long spell of dry weather.

This week a special meeting of Denbighshire County Council’s communities scrutiny committee will be held in Llangollen to examine how the emergency was handled, its impact on the area, the part played by various agencies and what lessons have been learned.

Among those who have submitted comments and are expected to be represented are Natural Resources Wales (NRW), North Wales Police, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and the council’s own countryside services.

The Horseshoe Pass Graziers’ Association, with 10 farming members, has stock on most of the land, but according to their report to the committee there was little discussion with them apart from helping to establish access points to the mountain.

On their behalf Gwyn Rowlands, former Glastir Commons development officer, says: “It would appear that the fire service was reluctant to involve graziers in any way, where the graziers feel that they had a useful knowledge of the area, quite possibly better than anyone else.

“All offers of assistance were declined and advice given as to the unsuitability of certain areas for small appliance use was ignored. There were incidences of these vehicles overturning.”

Mr Rowlands said there appeared to be little or no continuity among senior fire officers present, with different ideas and policies.

“It was also perceived that many had little or no experience of dealing with such incidents and insufficient care was taken to ensure that the initial outbreak, which was quickly brought under control, was completely extinguished before leaving the site. The fire reignited, resulting in the subsequent major incident.”

The graziers, whose numbers have reduced over the years, are calling for a co-operative policy among all parties over the management of the area, and a relaxation of some of the rules affecting management.

They want firebreaks to be cut, as is happening in the Berwyn range, and roadside verges widened to reduce the risk posed by passing motorists.

One rumour circulating at the time was that the authorities showed a lack of urgency during the early stages of the fire as the Welsh Government becomes responsible for meeting the costs when an incident extends beyond a certain period.

The Llantysilio Estate, which owns some of the mountainside, have also commented on the apparent lack of communication between fire commanders, with tenders coming from as far afield as Amlwch and Tywyn , and a lack of experience in dealing with mountain or heather fires.

They say that all firefighters should be trained in tackling such outbreaks and in the use of fully-laden all-terrain vehicles, some of which had rolled over.

Llantysilio community council, while praising the efforts of the fire and rescue service, has asked why it adopted the policy of “fighting the fire at the front line was adopted rather than the early creation of mechanically-dug fire breaks”, as it would probably have contained the fire sooner.

The briefing for councillors states: “It is important to emphasise that the purpose of the review is not to apportion blame on an any individual, service, organization or group in respect of the fire or the response to it, but to better understand and learn from the event to help improve the response and management of similar incidents in future.”