THE return of real Lancashire rain in the past few days has put moorland and forest fires to the back of our minds again.

But it shouldn’t.

The past two winters have forced us to have a long hard look at how to cope with ice and snow and our preparedness for it.

For example we now have a lot more grit bins at the roadsides and big employers and public bodies have focussed on taking steps to ensure the country doesn’t grind to a halt with the first few nights of sub zero temperatures.

In the same way the fires that ravaged large areas of East Lancashire less than a fortnight ago should have acted as a wake-up call.

Fire fighters from all over the county had to spend several days on the West Pennine Moors and other open areas in Rossendale trying to stop the spread of flames that had got a grip on bone-dry peat moorland and spread into plantations as well.

It was an alarming taste of what can happen thanks to the actions of nature – and nutters.

I say nutters because there seems little doubt that a number of fires that began in remote places like those around Belmont must have been started by people – either as a result of unforgivable negligence or deliberate criminal acts.

The same suspicions about fire-raisers are held by many in the state of Victoria in Australia where the ‘black Saturday’ blazes north of Melbourne two years ago killed 173 people, injured 414 and caused damage running into many millions of pounds.

Obviously the danger of fires in Australia is far greater every year than here. For a start we don’t have gum trees which literally ‘spit’ when they catch alight enabling flames to jump across roads.

It would be daft to suggest the risks in East Lancashire are on anything like the same scale.

But we could learn a lot from the sensible precautions that country takes.

For a start there are signs at all large open spaces grading the fire danger according to the dryness of the ground. When it reaches the highest point, red, public access is banned or severely limited and all naked flames (especially barbecues) are prohibited.

There are also plenty of beaters in racks, sand buckets and sometimes even water buckets ready to be used by anyone who comes across a fire.

And most importantly people who see someone acting suspiciously WILL take action and contact police.

As our climate gets warmer we need to act now to protect ourselves for the future.