A police helicopter has been patrolling the Valleys in search of people setting fires. The move comes as wildfire has been spreading across parts of Wales.
Footage of youths being tracked by police helicopters has been shared by the South West division of the National Police Air Service (NPAS). The video shows a a group of youths fleeing from the scene of the fire - with one stumbling and falling over.
NPAS hasbeen helping South Wales Police by searching for suspect youths involved in setting fires. In a Twitter post on Wednesday evening NPAS South West Region said it had encountered two incidents of youths setting fires on one patrol. The tweet shared footage of the incidents and came with a warning to anyone setting fires that police helicopters are now tasked to find them.
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The post said: "We have been assisting @swpolice by proactively patrolling the valleys searching for suspect youths involved in setting fires. We encountered 2 incidents on this single patrol of youths setting fires. Be aware that Police Helicopters are now tasked to find you."
A later tweet explained that the distances covered in the patrol would not have been achieved by a drone in current police service. It said the advantage of a helicopter is it is able to cover a vast area and move locations quickly as the intelligence picture changes.
A huge fire was seen burning for several hours near homes in Abertridwr on Monday. It was unclear how the fire started.
And large wildfires affected the Dyffryn Nantlle area of Gwynedd earlier this week, covering an area of 100,000 sqm. Four fire engines and a specialist wildfire unit were needed to tackle it.
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