ALABARÉ Team Supporting Community Efforts to Tackle Wildfires in Mid-Wales
A group of colleagues and clients from ALABARÉ’s service in Wales are helping to bring a wildfire under control, as they were scheduled to take part in firebreak training.
A group of colleagues and clients from ALABARÉ’s service in Wales are helping to bring wildfires under control, as they were scheduled to take part in firebreak training.
A two-day training course teaching local community members to work with Welsh Mountain Ponies to cut wildfire breaks has been cancelled with hours to go, after the blaze broke out a matter of feet away from the venue.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service were called to Gelli Fechan farm in Rhandirmwyn at 12.30 pm on Wednesday (12 August 2026), after the landowner heard loud crackling as bracken and trees ignited on the hillside.
The training, organised by non-profit ATLA Community CIC and hosted by Dr Donna Oldbury-Thomas at Gelli Fechan, had been due to start at 4.00 pm that day, including participants from ALABARÉ.
As the wildfires spread rapidly up the hillside, neighbours, local farmers and friends responded with extinguishers, water buckets and tankered IBCs of water.
The ALABARÉ team have been part of that effort, working on hosing down the area and patrolling areas where people were sleeping to ensure their safety.
A total of four wildfires have broken out in the same valley, devastating the landscape.
Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund Wales’s Awards for All programme, the Pony Power training teaches participants to work gently and confidently with ponies, deliver pony first aid, use sustainable and traditional equipment, and practically cut fire breaks, alongside the wider wildfire and conservation challenge facing Wales.
Dr Oldbury-Thomas researches the toxins released by different plant species in Welsh landscapes, including bracken, Molinia and heather, particularly during the smouldering stage that follows the initial flames, through a Coventry University research programme.
Her work also looks at how cutting fire breaks can reduce fire risk: by flattening foliage, reducing fuel load, and creating a natural break in the fire’s path.
Dr Donna Oldbury-Thomas said:
“We were hours away from teaching people exactly how to stop what happened right in front of us. It’s the clearest possible demonstration of why this work this wildfires really matters, and why we can’t afford to wait to scale it up.”
Ellie House, Director of ATLA Community CIC, said:
“This is a stark reminder of what’s at stake in this valley. Pony Power started as a small community pilot, and it’s rapidly becoming something with real potential to change how Wales responds to wildfire proactively.
“We’ve been incredibly moved by the rapid help of neighbours, friends and especially farmers who showed up with bowsers to tackle the spread, but we know we need to do more and we’re now looking for the right partners to help us take this project further.”
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