London’s fire marshal has joined calls for a total national ban on disposable barbecues after they were blamed for sparking bushfires in England during the recent wave of dry weather.
Barbecues are a fire risk, especially when used on dry ground, and parts of England have seen their driest weather for 111 years.
Homes were lost to fires in east London earlier this month during a heatwave where temperatures reached 40.3C.
In Norfolk, nature reserves lost more than 100 acres (40 hectares) of habitat for rare ground-nesting birds and other animals after the fires broke out.
Disposable barbecues were cited as the cause of several fires, including a serious blaze at Lickey Hills Park near Birmingham. National Trust properties such as Morden Hall Park in south London were affected by large areas of scorched earth after fires from disposable barbecues, and the cliffs of Torbay in Devon were set on fire .
London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe called on all local authorities in the capital to implement bans on Friday.
He said: “Despite our warnings about grass fires, we still saw some people behaving recklessly and recklessly. On Saturday, firefighters avoided a serious fire at Wanstead Flats [east London] provoked with a disposable barbecue.
“We need urgent action now to see a national ban on the sale of single-use barbecues. They can be bought for as little as £5 and can cause untold damage, especially when the grass is as dry as it has been for last weeks
“Last week is another example of how we are increasingly facing new weather extremes as our climate changes, and we are developing long-term strategies to deal with more incidents like this in the future.”
Jake Fiennes, conservation manager at Holkham Nature Reserve in Norfolk, has called for a sales ban after finding disposable barbecues used in a fragile sand dune habitat.
He said: “At what point does it make perfect sense to remove the sale of disposable barbecues. Three encounters today and no doubt many more undiscovered so far.
“The government keeps telling us that they don’t want to tell us what to do. However, they banned smoking inside for our health, they banned using a mobile phone while driving for our safety. Why can’t they ban single use barbecues to protect the environment!”
Rebecca Pow, who was environment minister until she resigned in protest at Boris Johnson’s behaviour, said she would be sympathetic to a ban.
He said: “Recent devastating fires have shown what a risk portable barbecues can be if not used responsibly. With more extreme weather events predicted, I support every effort to address the dangers that portable barbecues can present… without restricting people’s opportunities to get out into our green space with all the benefits that comes with it.”
The Labor Party is also calling for a total ban on its sale. Holly Lynch, the shadow safety minister, said: “Given the harm that single-use barbecues do, calls for a ban are getting stronger.
“The government needs to take this seriously and take action on single-use barbecues now.”
Retailers including Waitrose and Aldi have announced they will stop stocking single-use barbecues because of the harmful impact they have on the environment and wildlife. A petition on the UK government’s website has so far received more than 5,000 signatures.