SOMETIMES the best news is the news that never happened. We have come through one of the driest summers in memory without a major fire tearing across Dartmoor, and I think that quiet outcome deserves a moment of recognition.

It is easy to overlook. There were no dramatic headlines, no plumes of smoke rising over the tors, no families forced from their homes near the moor.

Yet when you look at what happened across the rest of the country this year, you realise just how fortunate, and how well prepared, we have been.

The national picture has been alarming.

This has been the worst wildfire season on record for England and Wales.

By the middle of August, fire crews had already attended more than 1,100 wildfires, surpassing the total for the whole of 2025, which itself broke every previous record.

July alone saw 458 wildfire incidents, the busiest single month ever logged.

Across the UK, more than 24,000 hectares of land had burned by early September, and nearly one in five large fires came within 500 metres of homes.

Behind those figures were real consequences. Around the country this year, dozens of houses were destroyed, hundreds of people were evacuated, and many more suffered injuries.

Five heatwaves left roughly 45 million people living in drought-affected areas. Against that backdrop, Dartmoor stayed remarkably calm.

That was no accident. One member of the Dartmoor National Park Authority described it as "almost a miracle" that we avoided a major blaze this summer.

I would gently suggest it was rather more than luck.

It was the result of countless people doing the right thing. The Authority's ban on disposable barbecues, open fires and camping stoves across the open moor undoubtedly helped.

So did the vigilance of our National Park Rangers, the readiness of the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, and the good sense of visitors and residents who took the warnings seriously.

I do not want us to be complacent.

As the Authority's chair rightly noted, the moor remains incredibly dry and the fire risk has not gone away.

A single discarded cigarette or a bottle left glinting in the sun can still do enormous damage. So the same care will be needed next year, and the year after.

For now, though, let us allow ourselves a small celebration of an ordinary summer.

Dartmoor is one of the great treasures of Central Devon. That it came through unscathed is a credit to everyone who helped keep it that way, and something we should not take for granted.

Facebook: Mel Stride MP X: @MelJStride Instagram: @melstridemp Website: www.melstridemp.com

Rt Hon Mel Stride MP

Member of Parliament for Central Devon