UK issues heat alerts as record heatwave drives wildfire risk

UK health officials placed most of England under amber heat-health alerts on Sunday as temperatures headed into a second week above the heatwave threshold and dry ground turned familiar summer landscapes into fire risk zones. The alerts covered the East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North West, with a yellow alert in the North East until 9pm on Sunday 12 July.

The alerting system, run jointly by the UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office for England, warns health and social care professionals when high temperatures may affect health and wellbeing, especially for vulnerable people. The service runs from June to September.

Temperatures of 35C or higher have been recorded in May, June and July of the same year for the first time in the UK weather record, and forecasters expected the heatwave to continue into next week. The National Fire Chiefs Council warned the country was experiencing its third heatwave since late May, with temperatures forecast to top 30C in many places, reach around 34C in some, and possibly climb to 36C in the hottest spots.

Fire chiefs warned that fast-spreading blazes could erupt across parts of the country, and the London Fire Brigade urged people not to use disposable barbecues because of the fire danger. The Met Office’s Fire Severity Index flags exceptional wildfire conditions, and at level 5 it can trigger access restrictions on vulnerable land under the CROW Act.

Take rubbish home, avoid leaving glass bottles in grassland, fully extinguish barbecues, stub out cigarettes carefully and follow local access restrictions. Earlier in July, UKHSA warned that rising temperatures could increase risks to vulnerable people and add pressure to health and social care services, after issuing red alerts in parts of southern England and Wales in June before downgrading some areas as conditions changed.