London's burning: Firefighters tackle 'absolute hell'

London's burning: Firefighters tackle 'absolute hell'

This is just one example of uncontrollable fast-moving fires throughout the UK on Tuesday (19th):

The News has been full of similar stories throughout the day.  Last I heard - somewhere in North Wembley was ablaze, but I don't know the details or exactly where.



A 'normal' day here with flashing blue lights and screeching sirens racing past here all through the day.
(Speaking of which .... one just flashed & screeched by just now 12:30am on what is now 20th July).
I think I heard the sound of a hovering helicopter here just a little while ago also, but over the sound of the fans whirring here (large floor-fan oscillating here in sitting room and also little desk fan right next to me (plugged in to the computer.  I will bring it with me into the bedroom when I go, but doubt if will be easy to get any sleep tonight.  It's thought to be perhaps the worst of the heat today (over 40 degrees here), and actually had literally just a few seconds of rain earlier on just before it got dark.  Was hoping for a thunder storm to clear the air here, but doesn't look like that will be happening now...

Major incident declared in London as fires surge amid record heatwave

Evening Standard

Emergency services face ‘unprecedented’ challenges as 40C heat caused chaos across UK on hottest ever day


A  major incident was declared in London on Tuesday as fires tore through residential areas of the capital during the 40C heatwave.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) came under "immense pressure" as crews tackled a number of significant blazes spread across the capital.
It came as the mercury soared to 40.3C in Coningsby in Lincolnshire, beating the previous record for the UK of 38.7C in Cambridge three years ago, by 1.6C. At least 29 observation sites across England have provisionally broken the previous all-time record, the Met Office said.

The hottest temperature in London was recorded in Heathrow at 12.20pm, where the mercury reached 40.2C.

A major incident declared by the LFB remained in place as of Tuesday evening, with Londoners warned not to have barbecues or call the emergency services unless there is an immediate risk to life.


Homes in Wennington, Essex were evacuated after a grass fire spread to houses just after 1pm. Fifteen fire crews and 100 firefighters were sent to battle the blaze, which is thought to have started on nearby shrubland.
Aerial footage showed several properties completely destroyed by the flames, with fields engulfed by black smoke.
A firefighter at the scene said that the conditions at the fire were "absolute hell", while those affected by the blaze said it had been spreading “fast”.

In Dagenham, two people were taken to hospital after a fire erupted on a wide area of grassland.
Footage shared on social media also showed a large fire breaking out on Dartford Heath. Kent Fire and Rescue Service said twelve fire engines and a height vehicle had been sent to the scene near Durrell Dene, in Joyce Green.

Elsewhere in London, the LFB sent fire crews to:
• Pinner, where twelve fire engines tackled a fire involving garden fencing and trees on Uxbridge Road
• Southgate, where ten fire engines attended a restaurant fire on Green Lanes
• Croydon, where eight fire engines tackled a grass fire
• Dagenham, where eight fire engines dealt with a grass fire on Ballards Road
• Wembley, where eight fire engines attended a fire on The Broadway
• Hendon, where six fire engines tackled a grass fire on Sunningfields Crescent
• Croydon, where four fire engines dealt with a grass fire on Chapel View
• Eltham, four fire engines attended a fire on Sidcup Road

Jonathan Smith, assistant commissioner at LFB, said that “rapid fire spread” had “impacted on properties, people’s homes, schools, churches and other types of buildings”.
“At the moment, because of the sheer number of incidents we’ve been attending today, we will be pulling all of that information together and making sure every incident is thoroughly investigated,” he said.

“Once we’ve done that we’ll be able to give an accurate picture of exactly the incidents we’ve attended, how many homes have been affected and if there have been any casualties.”

Disruption to transport and schools continued on Tuesday as the UK experienced its hottest day since records began, with scientists warning that extreme heatwaves were likely to become a more frequent occurrence as a result of climate change.

The Met Office's chief scientist Professor Stephen Belcher warned temperatures would get more extreme in the future, and the only way to stabilise the climate was to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero.

For parts of the UK, the searing temperatures come on top of months of below average rainfall, leaving conditions tinder-dry and putting most of England at "exceptional" risk of wildfires, with fire crews battling hundreds of blazes around the country.


Nigel Arnell, Professor of Climate Change Science, University of Reading, said that global warming was "increasing fire danger across the UK, and we need to be prepared for it."

Trackside fires and damage to overhead lines also halted train services, while there were widespread suspensions, disruptions, reduced services and temporary speed restrictions to cope with the risk of buckling rails.

Nine people have died or are feared dead in accidents in open water since Saturday, including several teenagers, and a swimmer who was missing at sea after an incident close to Clacton pier in Essex on Tuesday.

The Met Police said that officers would be patrolling open spaces overnight to ensure that Londoners are complying with LFB instructions not to hold barbecues or bonfires.

They urged residents in the capital not to leave broken bottles or glass on the ground and to dispose of cigarettes safely.

Devastating footage shows how homes melted in apocalyptic London wildfires

The scale of destruction caused by a grassland fire that tore through a residential area of Dagenham has been revealed.

More than 130 people had to be evacuated from their homes yesterday when a wildfire broke out in Beam Parklands and spread to nearby residential roads.

The terrifying flames engulfed almost everything in their path, leaving a trail of destruction and leaving streets almost unrecongisable.

Two people had to be taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation but fortunately, no one was killed in the fire, which saw more than 100 firefighters dispatched to the area.

However, 14 homes and 25 vehicles were completely destroyed in the blaze, while more were severely damaged.

Now, footage taken on some of the worst affected streets shows the devasting aftermath of the fire.
The apocalyptic video, which makes the area look like a war scene, shows buildings and vehicles gutted by the fire.

The street has been left unrecognisable (Picture: London Fire Brigade)


Firefighters spent more than eight hours trying to bring the blaze under control (Picture: London Fire Brigade)


Some houses looked like they had melted in the inferno (Picture: London Fire Brigade)

On Farm Close, only the shell of buildings survive, while others appear to have melted in the heat and are still smoldering or even burning.

Fences have burned through, with just the concrete pillars left standing and any patch of earth has been scorched black.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) was initially called to the blaze at 2.15pm yesterday.

Fifteen crews including teams from Whitechapel, Leytonstone, Millwall, and Clapham were sent to the scene.

Firefighters managed to get the fire under control by 10.40pm more than eight hours after it broke out.

More than 130 people had to be evacuated from the area (Picture: London Fire Brigade)


The devastation left behind in the wake of the fire (Picture: London Fire Brigade)

Borough Commander Paul McClenaghan, who was at the scene, said: ‘Crews initially attended a significant grass fire which involved multiple seats of fire and also affected a range of buildings and a workshop.

‘As firefighters were tackling that blaze, the fire was creating additional hotspots of fire which affected sheds and further nearby properties.

‘A number of properties were evacuated on both sides of the road.

‘Our firefighters worked in incredibly hot, difficult conditions. There were cylinders involved in the fire which added to the challenge for crews.’

Some people were able to return to their homes overnight but more than 150 were displaced by the fire.

Fires in London were so bad and frequent yesterday that LFB declared a ‘major incident’.

The day was the busiest for the brigade since the Second World War with more than 2,600 calls to incidents received across the day.

Sixteen firefighters were injured fighting fires in the capital with two admitted to hospital, LFB said.

80 firefighters at Wembley blaze as LFB declares 'major incident'

Brent & Kilburn Times
Published: 4:05 PM July 19, 2022

Updated:  9:44 AM July 20, 2022


Eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters are tackling a fire on The Broadway in Wembley - Credit: LFB


Around 80 firefighters are currently at the scene of a major fire in Wembley.

An outbuilding at the rear of a range of shops with flats above is alight on The Broadway.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) - called to the blaze at 2.09pm this afternoon - has taken more than 40 calls to the incident.

It is one of multiple fires currently raging across the capital, many of which are linked to the ongoing heatwave which has seen temperatures in the UK exceed 40C for the first time.
The situation has led the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to declare a "major incident".

Over 175 firefighters are currently tackling a grass fire in Upminster, while eight fire engines are on the scene of a similar incident in Dagenham

Elsewhere, the LFB has confirmed separate incidents in multiple areas across London, including in Croydon, Southgate and Hendon.

The cause of the Wembley fire is not known at this stage.

More to follow.

Low winds stopped what might have been new ‘great fire of London’, says expert

More than 40 houses were destroyed by fires on Britain’s hottest day. Now there are calls for an urgent rethink on building safety laws

The aftermath of the devastating fires in Wennington, east London. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Fires that burned in several parts of the UK last week spread in the same way as those that led to the great fire of London and would have been far worse with stronger winds, a fire expert has said.
Fires in Wennington, Uxbridge and Erith destroyed 41 properties last Tuesday, when temperatures went above 40C to make it the hottest day on record in the UK, and fire services had their busiest day since the second world war.

Guillermo Rein, professor of fire science at Imperial College London, said that strong winds played a major factor in spreading the 1666 fire, which lasted for four days and ended when soldiers blew up houses to create fire breaks, and the strong easterly wind died down.
“While it was blowing, the [great fire of London] was completely unstoppable,” he said. “So let’s put it this way. Tuesday could have been even worse if we had more wind.” Gusts reached 14mph last week, barely above average.
“Obviously the London of today is much safer than the London of 1666. But this was an urban fire, where fire spreads from one home to another, aided by vegetation. That’s what happened in 1666. This is what happened on Tuesday.”
After the 1666 fire, London’s mostly wooden houses and churches were rebuilt in stone, and the changing climate means that builders, architects and the public also need to change their approach to fire safety now, Rein and other experts said.
Most fires are started by people, usually accidentally, through sky lanterns, or by barbecues or camp fires that are thought to have been put out but continue to smoulder.
Anyone with a garden should be aware of how fire might spread into their home, according to Rein. A compost fire can spread to a wooden fence, which then might set light to an overhanging tree, and in turn to the roof of a house.

The Great Fire of London depicted in a painting from the Dutch school.
Photograph: Imagno/Getty Images

Embers carried by winds are also dangerous – the 1666 fire spread into different areas when embers landed on other houses.
“Tiles are tremendously fire resistant,” Rein said. “But if they are not well maintained, then embers can fall through a hole, and the structure of a roof is made from timber.”
Paul Bussey, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ fire expert advisory group, said: “Our legislation does not cover anything about external fires spreading from one building to another. We’re not used to it. But we really need to start thinking about it.
“When you’re also dealing with a carbon-zero economy where we’re trying to use more timber and less concrete, it’s a challenging question.”
Green living walls, such as one at the ExCeL building in London, could be considered a vector for a fire to spread, he added. “We’ve got to get to a stage where we can reconcile all these conflicting issues in a proportionate way.”
The Bushfire Building Council of Australia published designs last April for a “disaster resilient house” called Fortis with the aim that Australians in areas prone to wildfires, cyclones or floods can evacuate but return to find their home intact.
Kate Cotter, chief executive of the body, said the designs included an aerodynamic roof to withstand cyclones, and metal mesh screens to protect the windows from embers and heat. Retro-fitting existing homes is also an option, depending on the type of building, she added.
“Ninety per cent of our homes are not resilient to their local disaster risks,” Cotter said. “The classic UK house has a lot of strengths – brickwork and stone are strong and resilient. What’s most important is the detailing, looking where we’ve got chimneys, vents, weep holes, exhaust fans and sealing them up using mesh screens so embers can’t get in.
“People should definitely look at toughened glass – double glazing isn’t usually fire resilient but toughened glass is.”

UK heatwave: Woman's face 'doubles in size' after spending just an hour outside

The woman later explained that she ended up suffering from heatstroke

Eva later revealed she suffered a heat stroke (Image: evajones__/Tiktok)

The UK is not generally known for its hot climate, but the last few days have seen temperatures soar to record heights, reaching as high as 40C in some places. Brits are known for boarding flights to hot countries to get a taste of the heat, but the situation in the UK has gone far beyond a sunny escape - the Met Office and UKHSA issued its first ever national emergency warning for the weather.
A woman took to social media to share a video of how her face burnt so badly that it swelled to twice its normal size after she sat in the sun for an hour, reports The Mirror. Eva Jones shared a video on TikTok showing the burnt her face became in the current heatwave.
The video, which has since gone viral with more than 700,000 views, illustrates how her face goes from a pale colour to a deep shade of red. In the video, she said: "Tanning for an hour won’t do much."

When the clip then shows how red her face is, she said: "Guys I'm laughing but it’s not actually funny." She added in a second snap to her followers: "An update girlies, my face has swelled up."
She later explained she ended up suffering from heatstroke. Heatstroke is a condition caused by your body overheating, usually as a result of prolonged exposure to high temperatures.

Eva says she was only outside for an hour and it caused her face to swell and double in size  (Image: evajones__/Tiktok)

It's synonymous with the body's cooling mechanisms being overcome by heat resulting in a high core heat usually above 40C in adults, and 40.5 C in children. Heatstroke symptoms are mainly increased body core temperature and mental status changes.
Heatstroke symptoms not to ignore include high body temperature, altered mental state or behaviour, alteration in sweating, nausea and vomiting, flushed skin, rapid breathing and a racing heart. According to the NHS, if someone has heat exhaustion, you should move them to a cool place, get them to lie down and raise their feet slightly, get them to drink plenty of water and try an cool their skin.

The National Health body also advised them to stay with them until they're better: "They should start to cool down and feel better within 30 minutes."
You should call 999 if you are feeling unwell after 30 minutes or not sweating even when feeling hot, have a high temperature or feel confused. It comes as temperatures reached a high of 38.1C in the UK on Monday, as the Met Office warns tomorrow will be worse.
Doctors have warned of a danger to life or potentially serious illness from the blistering temperatures. Recommended precautions include avoiding physical exercise, keeping to the shade and maintaining ventilation, drinking plenty of water and using in-date sun cream. People have been warned against using rivers and lakes to cool off due to the dangers of swimming in open water.

IT systems at two of London’s biggest hospitals ‘shuts down’ due to heatwave’

Sami Quadri - Evening Standard
IT services went down at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals as temperatures surged beyond 40C for the first time ever in the UK
Computer systems at two of London’s biggest hospitals cut out due to the extreme temperatures caused by the recent heatwave, bosses have said.
IT services were wiped out at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals as temperatures surged beyond 40C during a record-breaking heatwave on Tuesday, July 19.
Chief operating officer John Findlay said it was "the most complex" incident at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust "in a very, very long time".
He also warned that it would take both hospitals a long time to recover, the BBC reported.
In an internal Zoom call with staff, he said the trust had to switch to paper which “slowed everything down phenomenally”.
"Although it sounds straightforward to move to a paper hospital clearly that is far from the case when you’ve got issues going on for an extended period of time," he said.
"It has slowed everything down phenomenally. It’s meant people have had to work incredibly hard."
He added: "That whole manual process of moving pieces of paper around the organisation, recording the interactions with patients, just fundamentally knowing what is going on and what has happened, is clearly a massive challenge.
"The longer it goes on, the greater that challenge is. I absolutely recognise the significance of this and the impact that it has had on people."
The systems have since been fixed but some problems remain and could continue into next week, chief executive Ian Abbs said.
"The past week has been exceptionally difficult for everyone at Guy’s and St Thomas’," Mr Abbs explained.
"The first thing is that I want to make a heartfelt and unreserved apology for what has happened. This is not what we expect or want ever to happen.
"This has been one of the most serious incidents we’ve ever had to deal with, certainly in my long memory at Guy’s and St Thomas’."
On Thursday, Chief Executive Professor Ian Abbs issued a further apology on the foundation trust’s website, saying: “My executive colleagues and I want to extend a heartfelt apology to all those who have been affected by the extremely serious IT problems that we have been experiencing.
“That apology is to our patients, their families and our local communities for the impact this incident may have had on their care; and also to our colleagues, for the significant impact that this has had on their ability to deliver the high quality care to which we always aspire.”
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has been contacted for comment.