Firewise UK
A daily UK fire-risk companion that tells households, campers, and countryside visitors whether it is safe to light a fire pit, BBQ, or campfire today in their area, with the specific local restrictions and an escape-response checklist if something goes wrong.
UK households with garden fire pits, campers, and countryside day-trippers planning outdoor cooking during summer
- Daily fire-risk verdict for your postcode drawing on the Met Office and local council restrictions
- "Safe burn window" recommendation with wind, humidity, and time-of-day context
- Wildfire-escape checklist and a 999-call script for the first 60 seconds
- Push alert when the local fire-danger index crosses a threshold or a new local restriction is published
UK wildfire ignition chance has reached 100% in some regions during an exceptional heatwave, with farmers and fire services publicly on edge and clear guidance scattered across agencies.
Real and rising UK wildfire activity (NFCC reports 1,006 wildfires in England/Wales in 2025, 342 by early July 2026) plus multiple consumer guides on fire pit/BBQ rules show genuine interest, but usage is heavily seasonal — concentrated in heatwave/summer windows rather than year-round.Fire chiefs warn UK's third heatwave heightens wildfire risk ↗Residential Fire Pit Laws: UK Legal & Safety Rules ↗
No consumer-facing 'should I light a fire pit today?' app surfaced; Met Office FSI targets land managers, Map Impact's WildfireView targets professionals, and council/GOV.UK guidance is scattered across PDFs. Consumer whitespace is real but agencies are starting to publish interactive maps themselves.Fire Severity Index (FSI) - Understanding Wildfire Conditions in the UK ↗UK Wildfire Risk & Susceptibility Mapping ↗
Hard to monetise: Met Office FSI and DataHub API are free public data, core value is a daily yes/no answer users get for nothing from weather sites, and demand spikes only on hot weekends — weak subscription or ad ceiling.Met Office Weather DataHub ↗Fire Severity Index (FSI) - Understanding Wildfire Conditions in the UK ↗
Climate change is structurally increasing UK wildfire risk and the Home Office has committed to a Wildfire Action Plan by mid-2024, pointing to multi-year rising relevance — though the niche is narrow and tightly coupled to extreme-weather frequency.Wildfire risks to UK landscapes - POST ↗Fire chiefs warn UK's third heatwave heightens wildfire risk ↗
Met Office FSI is being moved to the Open Access site and the DataHub already exposes GeoJSON forecast data for any UK coordinate, so the technical build is tractable; main effort is curating local council restrictions and assembling the escape checklist content.Fire Severity Index (FSI) - Understanding Wildfire Conditions in the UK ↗Weather DataHub | Home ↗