This month alone, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service has been called to 239 deliberate grass fires
Vast areas of the Welsh countryside have been burning as arsonists set grass fires across the country.
Pictures captured of the saddening scenes shows the dangers caused by deliberately set fires as they close in on homes and businesses and leave firefighters exhausted as they fight them.
The pictures come from as far north as Holyhead and as far south as the South Wales Valleys.
One picture, which we have been asked not to show, shows a firefighter appearing to collapse with exhaustion as he fights flames.
This month alone, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service have been called to 239 deliberate grass fires - 44 more than they had in the same period last year and an increase of 23%.
Of those, 75 were in Rhondda Cynon Taf , 47 were in Bridgend , 37 in Caerphilly, 23 inMerthyr Tydfil , 16 in Cardiff, 14 in Newport , eight each in Blaenau Gwent , Torfaen and theVale of Glamorgan and three in Monmouthshire .
Yesterday in RCT, firefighters were called to six grass fires in four hours.
Two crews from Tonypandy and one from Gilfach Goch were called to one fire which burnt eight hectares of bracken and grassland.
Thirteen firefighters used beaters and a hose reel jet to put out the fire.
In Porth four hectares of bracken and grass was set alight around 4.15pm.
In Cwmdare, Aberdare officers were called at 12.41pm to a small fire which they managed to extinguish in eight minutes.
Grass was set alight along the Taff Trail in Taffs Well.
Officers from Abercynon fire station were called at 4.23pm to another fire on grass along Cilfynydd Road which was put out in 10 minutes with a hose reel jet.
In Mountain Ash , one hectare of grass was delibrately set alight in Perthcelyn and Aberdarecrews attended using a hose reel jet to put out the fire.
The fire service’s Jennie Griffiths tweeted: “Firefighters walk across uneven ground with heavy equipment to fight grass fires so can’t get back quickly if you need them.”
Superintendent Alun Morgan , from South Wales Police , tweeted: "Ok, so imagine there's a house fire... Where would you want a fire engine - on its way to you, or on a mountain? Simple."
Dramatic images of Holyhead mountain gorse fire show crews battling to get a blaze under control.
The spectacular images, taken at close range by Phil Williams of Llanddeusant, show fire crews from Holyhead , Rhosneigr and Llangefni battling to extinguish the flames.
The alarm bell was raised at around 7pm last night.
The cause of the fire on Mynydd Twr, also known as Holyhead Mountain, is currently unknown.
Although there are a number of homes further down the mountain, no properties are thought to have been damaged.
But the acres of burning gorse, grass and bracken were visible from large parts of north-west Anglesey .
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