By “environmental conditions”, I mean both the weather at the time of the fire, and the state of the dead leaves, twigs and branches, and in some locations, peat, that fuel the fire. The amount of fuel and its dryness is crucial, and depends not just on the weather in the preceding days, but also the weeks and months before. Land management methods including peatland drainage can also play a role.

The warm conditions in the days up to Feb 26 were certainly very unusual for this time of year. There was high pressure centred over central Europe and the British Isles, which not only brought settled, dry conditions beneath it but also featured winds moving clockwise around it. This meant the UK and Ireland, on the western edge of the high pressure, experienced warmer air from the south.

Whether that kind of weather system is becoming more likely due to climate change is a difficult question to answer. However, at this point we can say that when such conditions occur, they are likely to be hotter than they would have been without climate change, as a result of the general warming trend. Research is already planned to establish how much of the hotter, drier conditions were due to climate change.