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Fire crews battled for around three-and-a-half hours on March 21 to put out a huge grass fire which destroyed around 12 hectares of mountainside in Abertridwr.

Just 48 hours later, another fire had to be put out in Senghenydd.

Now a group of people living in the Aber Valley have come together to form their own fire watch group – and have already had some success in preventing yet another fire.

The group, which communicates with members via social media, monitors suspicious activity on the mountains and seeks to give emergency services an early warning when fires are started.

It was founded by local Plaid Cymru councillors including Charlotte Bishop, who represents the Aber Valley ward. The group were also assisted by the expertise of Penyrheol councillor Steve Skivens – a former assistant chief fire officer with the South Wales Fire Service

Cllr Bishop said: “I brought the group together after a series of large grassfire on our mountainside which have devastated local wildlife, endangered lives and upset a lot of people.

“These people did not want to wait around for the next large grassfire so decided to do something positive about it. It was a pleasure to be able to pull it all together for them.

“What we have now is an effective fire watch group that has already had a number of successes in preventing fires due to increased vigilance.”

Cllr Skivens added: “Fires on our mountainside are a particular problem at this time of the year. The fire service refer to spring as the burning season because of the amount of call-outs they receive.

“The ethos of this fire watch group is about education and prevention but it also can be an effective early warning system for when fires are started.

“This is about a community seizing the initiative and taking control. There is no reason why this cannot work elsewhere.”

Peredur Owen Griffiths MS, who represents the South Wales East region, praised his Plaid Cymru colleagues and offered help to other communities who wanted to set up their own fire watch groups.

Join the Aber Valley fire watch’s Facebook group.