Ignited Kingdom: Brits burn in 40C
LONDON: The London Fire Brigade declared a “major incident” as fires raged across the British capital, destroying homes during a record heatwave that has left at least five people dead from drowning.
The mercury reached a new high of 40.3C at Heathrow Airport and in Lincolnshire, breaching 40C for the first time in the UK to make the country hotter than 99 per cent of the planet at this time of the year.
Almost 30 sites across England broke the previous record of 38.7, while Scotland also recorded its hottest day with 34.8C – shattering its previous record of 32.9C.
The high forecast triggered the first “red warning” across
much of England, with rail lines closed and schools shut in the worst-affected areas.
Hundreds of firefighters were battling at least 10 blazes across London, which destroyed at least eight homes on the city’s eastern outskirts.
One firefighter described conditions as “absolute hell”.
“I was sunbathing in my garden and then a massive black cloud (of smoke) came across,” said Ciar Meadows, who had to leave her home in Wennington. “Within an hour it spread all the way to our house … all of our cars have gone.”
As Brits tried to escape the heat, drowning deaths began to increase. The body of a 14year-old boy seen entering
the River Thames in suburban Richmond was recovered on Tuesday; a man in his 20s died at the Cotswold Water Park; and a man in his 70s died on the Isle of Wight.
London Ambulance received 400 calls an hour, placing the service under its highest “extreme pressure” level four rating.
London’s Fire Commissioner called for an urgent ban on disposable barbecues in parks and public spaces, responsible for many grass fires ravaging the city.
“With no end to the hot weather in sight, I am deeply concerned that the unprecedented scale of these fires is set to continue, putting lives at risk as well as devastating
green spaces around the capital,” Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said.
Some holidaymakers were hit with travel chaos after a runway melted at Luton Airport north of London.
Wales has already recorded its hottest day on record, with the temperature reaching 37.1C in Flintshire.
There are warnings that “thousands of excess deaths” could occur across the UK in the coming days.
Meanwhile, in mainland Europe, deadly fires still raged across France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, destroying huge tracts of land.
Firefighters in France’s southwest were still struggling to contain two massive
bushfires that have caused widespread destruction, burning more than 19,000ha of forest and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee from their homes.
Greek authorities evacuated eight villages north of Athens, reporting 39 fire outbreaks across the country in just 24 hours.
In Spain – which is nearly 10 days into the heatwave – more than a dozen fires continued to rage on Tuesday, including in the northwest province of Zamora, which had already experienced a huge fire last month.
In Portugal, nearly 2000 firefighters were tackling blazes in the centre and north of the country.