PREVIEW

WORDS BYLINE: John Thorne
An MP has angered locals after wrongly suggesting recent wildfires were caused by disposable barbecues, as critics say she implied her constituents were “stupid”.
Rachel Gilmour has refused to apologise for her comments after 19 homes were destroyed and 18 others damaged by two fires in Stourbridge in the West Midlands.
In the wake of the devastation, she posted a video to her official social media channels that shows her sitting on brown grass which she refers to as an “absolute tinderbox”.
“Nobody would be stupid enough to use a disposable barbecue in this weather — would they?” she says to the camera. “I’m not going to treat you like idiots. We’ve all lived here long enough to know what the dangers are when we get a drought like this.
“All I’m saying is pick up after you, don’t use disposable barbecues, responsibly dispose of cigarette butts and let’s not put our beautiful countryside at more risk than it already is, and make sure that the hardworking Devon and Somerset Fire Service are not rushed out across my constituency.”
Mrs Gilmour’s Tiverton and Minehead constituency covers West Somerset and parts of the Blackdown Hills and Culm Valley and several parishes which border Wellington.
She concluded: “Just be responsible. I know you are anyway.”
In an earlier version of the video, Mrs Gilmour mentioned the recent Stourbridge wildfires by name, angering locals as disposable barbecues are not thought to have been the cause of those fires. West Midlands Fire Service has since said the blazes began accidentally in fields where agricultural machinery was being used.
Stourbridge residents have slammed Mrs Gilmour’s comments as “idiotic”, “arrogant” and “totally misinformed and savagely insensitive”.
Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles said she had contacted the Lib Dem whips office in Parliament to ask for a correction, but was simply told the video had since been edited.
“I have not heard from [Mrs Gilmour],” she said. “It came across as she was saying the people of Stourbridge were stupid. I live here as well, and it hurt me personally, as well as the community.
“I did see her team had edited that part of the video where she mentions Stourbridge. Several of my constituents contacted me at the time because they were unhappy about it.”
Ms Eccles said the fire brigade’s later revelation about the accidental cause of the blazes provided ‘important clarity’ for the community and underlined just how quickly fires could take hold in such extreme weather conditions.
One figure calling for an apology is Dudley Metropolitan borough Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew Tromans, who lives in and represents Stourbridge. Cllr Tromans said at the time of Mrs Gilmour’s offensive remarks, the cause of the fire had not been determined.
“As a Liberal Democrat, community politics is in my veins, I would never make crass judgments about another community,” he said.
“It is hurtful that an apology has not been forthcoming. The fires were the worst thing to happen in Stourbridge, my home town, for decades. No apology, no action from the party. Still no acknowledgement of the hurtful statement. I have never been rude about the people of Somerset or Devon, I would not dream of it.”
Local media has approached Mrs Gilmour’s office and her press officer to ask if an apology would be forthcoming but has not received a response.
Locally, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue has this summer been dealing with record numbers of wildfires, or, fires in the open, as they are classified. July was its busiest month in the past 10 years with more than 5,300 calls, 756 to attend fires, an average of 28 fires a day compared to the usual daily average of 12. There were more than 470 outdoor fires, meaning about two-thirds of all fires the brigade attended during the month had been in the open.