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ITV news correspondent Sejal Karia reports on people who lost everything in the middle of forest fires
The outbreak of hundreds of fires amid record temperatures has been dubbed a “wake-up call” on climate change, as the UK counts the cost of the heat wave.
When temperatures rose above 40 degrees Celsius 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 busiest day for the London Fire Brigade (LFB) since World War II, with the service experiencing more than seven times the usual call volume, said London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Although it is understood there were no deaths, the mayor of London said 41 homes and warehouses were destroyed across the capital. Residents told ITV News that the incident was their “worst nightmare.”
LFB Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Smith said: “Yesterday’s fires are another example of how we increasingly face new weather extremes as our climate changes, and we are developing long-term strategies to do so. in the face of more incidents like this in the future. ”
Several major fires broke out in the capital, while two “large-scale” incidents took place in Upminster and the village of Wennington, east London.
Aerial footage shows a fire destroying properties in Wennington, London, as temperatures rose during the heat wave
Heads of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, who were close to calling for a major incident, warned on Tuesday that the situation across the country would not be a single one and that the UK needed to be “prepared”. Deputy Fire Chief Dave Walton said, “Yesterday was a game changer and took us to a whole new level. The fires were spreading much faster than ever.” He said that generally when a large fire broke out, it was possible to call for help from neighboring services, but on Tuesday “everyone was busy and completely up.” “The predictions are that we will have heat waves like this much more regularly, even every three years, due to climate change … we need to see this as a wake-up call.”
“I ran as fast as I could with the flames behind me”: Wennington resident Steve Rolton describes the time he fled a wildfire
In South Yorkshire, donations have begun to flood to support residents who were seen desperately throwing buckets of water into a large fire that ravaged a Barnsley street and destroyed six homes.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said it is conducting investigations into the Barnsley fire as well as the fires that destroyed homes in Doncaster and Rotherham on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, his teams have continued to witness Wednesday afternoon’s incidents, including a fire in an abandoned ski village in Sheffield, which has left a column of smoke over the city.
Two South Yorkshire firefighters were hospitalized amid Tuesday’s flames. Two of his LFB counterparts were admitted to hospital, while 16 in the capital suffered heat injuries.
Among those left homeless by Tuesday’s wildfires are a pensioner who had lived in the same place for 60 years and a Norfolk widower whose photographs of his late wife were destroyed.
A “devastated” Keith Gant told ITV News Anglia that he now only has the tattoo on his arm to remember his wife.
A man tries to fight the fire on Woodland Drive, Barnsley. Credit: Facebook
Treasury Secretary-General Simon Clarke promised that the government would “intervene” to help families affected by the fires, though he did not specifically say what help he could provide to those without insurance, whose homes or belongings they go to. be destroyed.
The London ambulance service said it had received the equivalent of a call every 13 seconds during the two days of extreme heat, with a 10-fold increase in incidents related to heat exposure compared to the week past and an 8% increase in people fainting. NHS chiefs have warned that the “collapsed” buildings of the health service are not fit to adapt to the heat wave, which saw hospitals forced to reduce the number of planned operations, install cooling units and try to cool the computer 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 a major disruption to its computer systems due to Tuesday’s heat, which meant it had been forced to postpone some operations and appointments.
Nine people have died since Saturday in swimming accidents amid the heat wave and there has been a widespread disruption to train services.
The Met Office said 34 observation sites in England had temporarily broken the previous historical record, ranging from Bramham in West Yorkshire to Charlwood in Surrey, while five more had equaled it on Tuesday.
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In a total of six places, most in Greater London, temperatures reached or exceeded 40ºC.
Scotland experienced the hottest day in history, with temperatures reaching 34.8 ºC in Charterhall on the Scottish borders, the provisional Met Office figures showed.
Heat waves are becoming more intense, frequent and longer due to climate change, and scientists said it would be “virtually impossible” for the UK to have experienced temperatures reaching 40 ° C without global warming driven by humans.
Aerial dams show the aftermath of the Barnsley forest fire
There may be no truce for extreme weather, with a yellow warning for storms in much of England from noon to 10pm on Wednesday.
The Met Office said that while many places will only see relatively small amounts of rain, some slow torrential showers are possible.
When they occur, there could be 20-30 mm (0.8-1.1 inches) of rain in an hour and at some points 50 mm (2 inches) in three hours.