Wildfire near Sizewell B prompts evacuation as Uefa weighs Fifa boycott

A major wildfire on Dunwich Heath in Suffolk forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from homes and a caravan park, placing fire crews on alert near the Sizewell nuclear sites. The blaze broke out on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, and Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident as more firefighters were sent to contain it.

BBC News put the fire at about the size of 140 football pitches, underscoring how quickly the flames spread across the heath. Reuters said the wildfire in eastern England posed no threat to the nearby Sizewell nuclear sites, including Sizewell B, the UK’s largest nuclear power station. Suffolk Resilience Forum has had a Radiation Emergency Plan in place for fixed civil nuclear sites since February 2024, a reminder of the planning that surrounds the area whenever fire breaks out close to the plant.

The evacuation included holidaymakers at a caravan site as well as people in nearby homes, with the blaze cutting through a National Trust site. The combination of summer heat, open heathland and a major nuclear installation gave the fire a national edge far beyond Suffolk, even as crews worked to stop it spreading further.

The other headline dominating the front pages belonged to football politics, where Uefa’s 55 member associations unanimously backed a boycott of the World Cup and other Fifa competitions if Fifa goes ahead with plans to sell stakes in its tournaments to private investors. The position followed Gianni Infantino’s push to open the World Cup and other Fifa events to outside capital, turning a commercial plan into a direct challenge from Europe’s governing body.

One report put the proposed deal at about $20 billion and linked it to Jared Kushner. Earlier discussion of a possible European boycott had already surfaced in January, amid tensions involving Donald Trump and Greenland, before the issue returned with greater force as the investment plan came into focus.

Together, the two stories captured the summer pressure now running through public life: firefighters trying to hold a blaze away from a nuclear site in Suffolk, and football officials threatening to walk away from Fifa’s biggest competitions over money and control.