LAST UPDATE | 20 Jul 2022

FIRES ARE CONTINUING to ravage through houses and buildings across the UK after temperatures topped 40 degrees in the UK for the first time ever.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that the city’s fire brigade experienced its busiest day on record since World War Two.

A new record for the hottest day ever seen, of 40.3 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Lincolnshire, England yesterday afternoon – beating the previous record of 38.7 degrees in Cambridge three years ago.

Amid the sweltering heat, major incidents were announced by fire brigades in London, Leicestershire and South Yorkshire as dozens of fires broke out amid the sweltering heat – with flames ripping through houses, schools and churches.

It comes as the temperature is set to drop by up to 10 degrees in some areas today, with heavy showers and thunderstorms to lash parts of the country, potentially causing localised flooding.

Khan said the London Fire Brigade (LFB) had experienced its busiest day on record, receiving more than 2,600 calls throughout the day – seven times the usual number.

The London Mayor told Sky News: “Yesterday was the busiest day for the fire service in London since the Second World War.”

He added: “Yesterday they received more than 2,600 calls – more than a dozen simultaneous fires requiring 30 engines, a couple requiring 15, and some requiring 12.

“I’m afraid the bad news is, 41 properties were destroyed in London.”

Heatwaves are being made more intense, frequent and longer by climate change, and scientists said it would be “virtually impossible” for the UK to have experienced temperatures reaching 40C without human-driven global warming.

Global greenhouse gas emissions must be substantially and rapidly reduced to avoid catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis.

The Met Office said 34 observation sites across England provisionally broke the previous all-time record, ranging from Bramham, in West Yorkshire, to Charlwood, in Surrey, while a further five had equalled it yesterday.

A total of six sites, mostly in Greater London, saw temperatures reach or exceed 40 degrees.

Scotland experienced its hottest day on record, with the temperature reaching 34.8 degrees in Charterhall in the Scottish Borders, Met Office provisional figures showed.

Ireland recorded its hottest temperature in 135 years on Monday, with the Met Éireann measuring site at Phoenix Park topping out at 33°C.

Two “large-scale” incidents took place in Upminster and the village of Wennington, east London, where black smoke billowed into the air while flames destroyed buildings and ravaged nearby fields.

Several other significant incidents also occurred in the capital, with people urged not to have barbecues or bonfires due to the “unprecedented” challenges crews face.

Jonathan Smith, assistant commissioner at LFB, earlier told the PA news agency crews would continue to tackle the flames into the evening.

He also said: “It would be premature to say we are out the other end of this incident”.

New smaller fires, related to the hot weather, were continuing to crop up in different corners of the city by 11pm last night. 

Elsewhere, a serious blaze occurred in Barnsley when a row of houses in the Moorland Avenue area was consumed by flames, with crews continuing to battle fires elsewhere in the area.

Doncaster Council said a major blaze in Clayton also spread to three residential properties and there were reports of houses on fire in the Kiverton Park and Maltby areas of Rotherham.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue tweeted: “We have declared a major incident due to high demand across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

“We will not be attending Automatic Fire alarms. Please only call us if it’s an emergency.”

It stood down its major incident warning later in the day.

Nine people have died since Saturday in swimming accidents and there has been widespread disruption to train services.

As temperatures soared:

• Interim deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin, said the heatwave was forcing hospitals to scale back the number of planned surgeries and install cooling units and try to cool down IT server rooms.
• An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said the service had seen above-average call numbers since Monday afternoon and it expected to still be seeing an impact from heat-related illness into the weekend.
• Road congestion in several cities, including Birmingham, London and Manchester was down on Tuesday, as people heeded advice not to travel, while commuter numbers were also down on the Tube and bus services in the capital.
• Sales of fans, ice cream and paddling pools and burgers rocketed as the heatwave sparked a spending spree on summer essentials, according to retailers, while tech experts urged smartphone users to keep their gadgets out of the sun to ensure they continue working properly. 

However, the Met Office said there would be a showery and thundery breakdown of the heat today, with a yellow warning for thunderstorms in place for parts of south east, east and central England in the afternoon and evening.

It warns people to expect flooding or lightning strikes, delays and some cancellations to train and bus services, spray and sudden flooding, road closures and possible power cuts.