LFB Assistant Commissioner on climate change and heatwave

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Assistance Commissioner Jonathan Smith for London Fire Brigade warned emergency services need to “make sure that we do everything we can to have the right resources and training in place” to handle the heatwave that is currently attacking the UK. He explained the number of grassland and wildland fires that the fire brigade has attended in the first week of August this year has increased to 340, compared to the 42 recorded last year in the same week. Referring to the comparison, he stressed “I hope [the heatwave] is the wake-up call for all of us, in terms of climate change”. 

Mr Smith told BBC Breakfast: “If you look at some of the comparisons to last year, for the first week in August last year the London Fire Brigade attended 42 grassland and wildland fires.

“Same week this year, we’ve attended 340, an eight marked increase in the number of grassland and wildland fires that were attended.

“The scenes that we saw from the 19th of July I think it will live long in people’s memory in terms of what that actually look like.

“I hope this is the wake-up call for all of us, in terms of the impact of climate change.

“What this actually means as far as our own behaviour is concerned and how we respond as emergency services to make sure that we do everything we can to have the right resources in place and to make sure we’ve got the right training in place.

“In fact, it is now in our strategic and longer-term planning to make sure that the fire brigade, in particular, is prepared to deal with what we know, sadly, is an inevitable consequence of climate change.

“I think that is now very much in the public consciousness”.

The comments came an amber extreme heat warning has today come into force.

The alert, issued by the Met Office from midnight on Thursday until Sunday, concerns mainly southern and central England and parts of Wales.

The heat warning came as the weather forecast warned of temperatures expected to hit up to 37C (99F) in some parts of the UK over the next four days.

Together with the amber alert, the Met Office will also raise its Fire Severity Index to its highest level over the weekend, stressing the possibility of an “exceptional” risk of blazes spreading in many places.

Referring to wildfire risks, Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said the risk is already “very high”, warning of an increase throughout the weekend.

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The Met Office said temperatures this week are expected to remain below last month’s record high temperatures but warned the current heatwave is set to last longer.

BBC weather forecaster Matt Taylor explained: “This heatwave, temperatures won’t be as high, but the big difference with this current heatwave is that it’s much more prolonged.

“We’ve already seen temperatures above 30C every day this week and that will continue until Sunday”.

In light of the heat warning and referring to the most vulnerable, Dr Agostinho Sousa from UK Health Security Agency warned: “The most important advice is to ensure [vulnerable people] say hydrated, keep cool and take steps to prevent their homes from overheating”.

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