Play a Brightcove video
ITV News’ Sejal Karia reports on people who have lost everything in the bushfires
The outbreak of hundreds of fires amid record temperatures has been called a “wake-up call” on climate change as the UK reckons with the cost of the heatwave.
As temperatures rose above 40C for the first time on Tuesday, major fires were declared in London, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and South Yorkshire amid dry conditions.
Tuesday was the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) busiest day since the Second World War, with the service seeing more than seven times the usual volume of calls, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said.
Although no one was known to have died, the Mayor of London said 41 houses and warehouses had been destroyed across the capital. Residents told ITV News the incident was their “worst nightmare”.
LFB Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Smith said: “Yesterday’s fires are yet another example of how we are increasingly challenged by new extreme weather events as our climate changes, and we develop long-term strategies to deal with more incidents like this one in the future. “
Several significant fires occurred in the capital, while two “large-scale” incidents occurred in Upminster and the village of Wennington, east London.
Aerial footage shows fires destroying properties in Wennington, London, as temperatures soar during the heatwave
Chiefs from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, who were close to being called out for a major incident, warned that the situation across the country on Tuesday would not be a one-off and the UK needed to “get ready”. Deputy Chief Fire Officer Dave Walton said: “Yesterday was a game changer and took us to a whole new level. The fires were spreading much faster than ever before.” He said that normally when a big fire happened it was possible to call the neighboring services for help, but on Tuesday ‘everyone was busy and completely overwhelmed’. “The projections are that we’re going to get heat waves like this much more regularly, even every three years, because of climate change … we should see this as a wake-up call.”
‘I ran as fast as I could with the flames behind me’: Wennington resident Steve Rolton describes moment he escaped bushfire
In South Yorkshire, donations have started to flood in to support residents who were seen desperately throwing buckets of water at a huge fire that broke out in a street in Barnsley, destroying six houses.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was investigating the blaze in Barnsley, as well as fires which gutted homes in Doncaster and Rotherham on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, its crews continued to attend incidents on Wednesday afternoon, including a fire at a disused ski resort in Sheffield which left a plume of smoke over the city.
Two South Yorkshire firefighters were hospitalized amid Tuesday’s blazes. Two of their LFB colleagues were hospitalized and 16 in the capital suffered heat-related injuries.
Among those left homeless by Tuesday’s bushfires are a pensioner who has lived in the same place for 60 years and a Norfolk widower whose photographs of his late wife were destroyed.
“Devastated” Keith Gantt told ITV News Anglia that he now only has the tattoo on his arm to remember his wife.
A man tries to put out the fire in Woodland Drive, Barnsley. Credit: Facebook
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke promised the government would “step in” to help families affected by the fires – although he did not say specifically what help it might provide to those without insurance whose homes or belongings were destroyed .
London Ambulance Service said it received the equivalent of a call every 13 seconds during the two days of extreme heat, with a 10-fold increase in heat-related incidents compared to last week and an 8% increase in people fainting. NHS bosses have warned that the health service’s “crumbling” buildings are not fit to adapt to the heatwave, which has forced hospitals to cut the number of scheduled operations, install cooling units and try to cool IT server rooms .
Sangita Lal reports from Sheffield, where there was another fire on Wednesday
A spokesman for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said it had experienced significant disruption to its IT systems due to the heat on Tuesday, meaning it had been forced to postpone some operations and appointments.
Nine people have died since Saturday swimming in the heat and there has been widespread disruption to trains.
The Met Office said 34 monitoring sites in England tentatively broke the previous all-time record, ranging from Bramham, in West Yorkshire, to Charlwood, Surrey, while a further five equaled it on Tuesday.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out what you need to know
A total of six sites, mostly in Greater London, saw temperatures reach or exceed 40C.
Scotland experienced its hottest day on record, with the temperature reaching 34.8C at Charterhall in the Scottish Borders, provisional Met Office figures show.
Heatwaves are becoming more intense, frequent and longer-lasting due to climate change and scientists said it would be “virtually impossible” for the UK to experience temperatures reaching 40C without human-caused global warming.
Aerial pictures show the aftermath of the Barnsley bushfire
There is potentially no respite from the extreme weather, with a yellow warning for thunderstorms across much of England from midday until 10pm on Wednesday.
The weather service said that while many places would see only relatively light rain, slow downpours were possible.
Where this occurred, 20-30 mm (0.8-1.1 in) of rain could fall in one hour, and in some places 50 mm (2 in) in three hours.
Add Comment