‘Bone Dry' Britain Braces For More Wildfires In Heatwave

At least two dozen wildfires have been recorded in just two days, fire chiefs said yesterday, as much of Britain sweltered under heat so intense that rail services were cancelled and the runway surface at Luton airport melted.

- Saphora Smith

The mercury hit 38.1C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, making it the hottest day of the year and the third-hottest day on record, after 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019 and 38.5C in Faversham, Kent, in August 2003. The current UK record looks almost certain to fall today when temperatures could reach 41C in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and hit 40C in London.

Wales provisionally recorded its hottest day on record yesterday, with temperatures reaching 35.3C in Gogerddan, near Aberystwyth, according to the Met Offie. Heatwaves and dry spells in the UK – made more frequent and intense by the climate crisis – set the conditions for wildfires, experts say. Paul Hedley, the lead on wildfires for the National Fire Chiefs Council, told The Independent that by around 4pm yesterday fire and rescue services across England and Wales had recorded at least 24 fires since 7am on Sunday – double the number recorded in all of July last year.