First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth held a climate change and resilience summit in Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday, which brought “key partners together to develop future actions”.
It hosted representatives from the fire services, police, local government, farmers and climate change organisations.
“There was poor preparation,” said Gareth Tovey, executive council member for Wales, explaining they redirected specialist crews such as water teams to the wildfires.
“At some stages there was zero crew back up for vast parts of south Wales,” he said.
“Firefighters were injured because they didn’t have the right kit to fight wildfires.”
The FBU said there was a shortfall of 400 firefighters in Wales.
Tovey said the union had been warning “for years” authorities needed to do something and there was a “real risk to the public” if immediate action was not taken.
He said bringing in the Army, was “not a silver bullet” as they do not have the firefighting skills needed.
An FBU survey following the fires found 69% of firefighters felt significantly under-equipped, with just 8% feeling fully equipped.
Nearly half reported welfare facilities during wildfire deployment were insufficient.
Firefighters are funded by the public but through a levy decided by the local authority for the area. This is part of their budget, which is in turn set by the Welsh government.
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service was applying to the Welsh government’s emergency assistance scheme to cover the additional cost of the wildfires this summer.
While the full financial impact is still being assessed, the cost was expected to exceed £500,000.
At one point firefighters in north Wales were managing six wildfires at once – more than ever before.
It comes as a report from the UK’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said the wildfires left firefighters working in extreme conditions and exposed weaknesses in the UK’s resilience and preparation.
It called for a UK government-funded “national wildfire prevention campaign” with clear and consistent messaging, along with wildfire risk indicators in weather forecasts.
