Army Called In and Barbecues Banned as Wildfires Spread
Prime Minister Andy Burnham declared Britain a “tinderbox” and announced an emergency response as wildfires spread during the extreme heat, calling in the army to help fight the fires and imposing a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues. Fire services have been stretched across the country. It follows this week’s Cobra meeting on the heat and drought.
Deploying troops and moving to ban a consumer product mark a sharp escalation of the government’s response, casting the summer’s fires as a national emergency rather than a seasonal nuisance. Disposable barbecues, cheap and often abandoned still hot on dry ground, have long alarmed fire chiefs, and a sales ban answers their calls while sparing ministers the delay of full legislation. Military help reflects how thinly firefighters are stretched after weeks of blazes across parched countryside, with reservoirs low and much of England in drought. Critics will ask whether the measures are enough, or come too late in a summer of record fires; supporters say decisive action was overdue. The politics of climate resilience have moved up the agenda. Watch whether a permanent ban follows and how the fires develop.