Stourbridge Wildfires Destroy 19 Homes and Hospitalize 19 as UK Heat Hits 38.1C
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 15
Stourbridge Wildfires Destroy 19 Homes and Hospitalize 19 as UK Heat Hits 38.1C
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 15
Summary
Fifty-four people were treated across eight West Midlands fires on Thursday, including 19 taken to hospital, as Stourbridge emerged as the worst-hit area.
Nineteen homes in the Dudley market town were fully destroyed and 18 damaged after flames spread rapidly in record 38.1C heat during Britain’s fifth consecutive heatwave.
More than 20 care-home residents and other locals were evacuated to a boarding school and hotels, with some still unable to return as fields continued smouldering.
Andy Burnham called the UK a “tinderbox” during a Friday visit to Stourbridge and said firefighting planes would be commissioned for future wildfires.
Residents and local figures including the Bishop of Dudley cast the destruction as a climate warning, even as they praised volunteers, churches, mosques and neighbors for supporting evacuees.