In 31 years on the job, London Fire Brigade (LFB) station commander Alex Strand has fought some of the capital’s worst blazes since World War Two.
This searingly hot summer has been his busiest ever. The veteran firefighter has regularly scrambled from his central London base to battle wildfires raging in the capital’s outer boroughs.
But last month, he was mobilised to a wildfire with a difference: the flames sweeping down a country park in Rainham, east London, were just yards from his family home.
Shorts
Scroll to previous short
Scroll to next short
Caption: Handout photo issued by Forestry England of a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 in Hampshire after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Forestry England/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Forestry England
Provider: Forestry England/PA Wire
Source: PA
ENVIRONMENT
Firefighters work ‘tirelessly’ to contain New Forest fire
Firefighters are beginning a third day of tackling a fire in the New Forest which they say they are “managing to contain” after working “tirelessly” through the night.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service initially scrambled 26 fire engines and four water carriers to the eastbound A31 after receiving 160 emergency calls reporting a van had caught fire on Sunday evening.
How did the fire progress?
The fire service said the blaze spread from the vehicle to the central reservation before progressing into nearby heathland in a south-easterly direction towards Backley Bottom, and is in a “challenging rural location”.
An update released on Tuesday by the fire service said that a change in wind direction had “provided a challenge” overnight but it was managing to prevent “spread and escalation”.
Caption: Firefighters tackle the fire at a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Photographer: Andrew Matthews
Provider: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Source: PA
Caption: Firefighters tackle the fire at a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Photographer: Andrew Matthews
Provider: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Source: PA
Cows face backdrop of smoke
Caption: Handout photo issued by Forestry England showing cows standing in front of a plume of smoke coming from a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 in Hampshire after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Forestry England/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Photographer: Forestry England
Provider: Forestry England/PA Wire
Source: PA
A closer look at the detail
A total of seven fire engines, with water carriers and off-road vehicles, were involved in the operation overnight, which continued to use water pumped through miles of pipes laid from a nearby lake as part of a high-volume pump (HVP) system.
Caption: New Forest ponies outside The New Forest Inn in Emery Down in the New Forest, Hampshire. Parts of the UK are set to see their fifth heatwave of the summer as the country continues to bake in an unprecedented period of dry, hot weather. Picture date: Sunday August 9, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Photographer: Andrew Matthews
Provider: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Source: PA
Caption: Smoke rises from a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Photographer: Andrew Matthews
Provider: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Source: PA
And the A31 – the main route through the New Forest – remains closed, with National Highways saying that repairs needed to “significant” damage to the road surface can only start once the fire is safely under control.
The story in pictures
Caption: Smoke rises from a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Photographer: Andrew Matthews
Provider: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Source: PA
Caption: PETERSFIELD, UNITED KINGDOM ??? AUGUST 10: A general view of a smoke-filled sky looking towards the New Forest from Butser Hill on August 10, 2026, in Petersfield, United Kingdom. Petersfield sits within the Solent and South Downs drought zone, which was officially declared in drought on August 10. Along with areas declared last week, 71.3% of England is now experiencing a flash drought, a rapidly developing drought caused by a combination of very low rainfall and high temperatures. (Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)
Photographer: Brook Mitchell
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images Europe
Copyright: 2026 Brook Mitchell
Caption: Firefighters tackle the fire at a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Photographer: Andrew Matthews
Provider: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Source: PA
What did the fire service say?
Thanks to the efforts of firefighters we are managing to contain the fire. We have been using a mix of fire engines and off-road vehicles to damp down and cool the edges of the area involved in the fire to prevent spread and escalation.
Caption: Smoke rises from a major heathland blaze in the New Forest near Ringwood in Hampshire. More than 20 fire engines are tackling the blaze near the A31 after a vehicle fire spread to the nearby heathland on Sunday. Picture date: Monday August 10, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Photographer: Andrew Matthews
Provider: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Source: PA
The schoolwear industry has said that parents may end up paying more for uniforms (Photo: Sam Edwards/Getty)
news
How much parents could save from new school uniform rules
A new law coming into force in September means parents in England will save money by having to buy fewer branded items of school uniform.
What does the new law mean?
From September, uniforms will be limited to three items with a school logo, like a blazer, jumper or sportswear – plus a tie for secondary schools.
‘The new school uniform act may help parents to shop beyond expensive official school suppliers, but it will not make any impact this year’ writes Stefano Hatfield (Photo: Getty Images/Moment RF)
In my experience, the things single-sex schools are supposed to protect against are exactly what they breed (Photo: JohnnyGreig/Getty Images)
The government says the changes will save some families “up to £50 per child”.
How will the law be enforced?
Caption: Who shall we choose?
Photographer: PeopleImages
Provider: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Source: iStockphoto
Copyright: www.peopleimages.com
Who is affected?
Around 23 per cent of secondary schools will have to change their uniform lists by September.
How will it be enforced?
The education secretary has legal powers to direct schools to comply.
Caption: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – JULY 15: Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson arrives at Downing Street for a weekly Cabinet Meeting in London, United Kingdom, on July 15, 2026. (Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Photographer: Anadolu
Provider: Anadolu via Getty Images
Source: Anadolu
(Photo: Getty).
The rest of the UK
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have a cap on uniform items, but are encoureged to keep uniforms costs minimal.
(Photo: Alvaro Gonzalez/Getty).
news
How England could eliminate hepatitis C
England is “on the cusp” of becoming one of the first countries in the world to eliminate hepatitis C, health officials have said.
What have the health officials said?
Global health leaders have set out plans to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030.
Two more Omicron cases have been found in the UK (Photo: Reuters)
A member of the medical team holds up a used swab from a PCR test (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty)
NHS England said the nation is one of a handful of countries globally to have already exceeded the World Health Organisation benchmark of treating 80 per cent of all known cases.
It said that deaths from the virus have reduced by 36 per cent in the last 10 years.
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis C is spread through contact with blood infected with the virus.
Many people have no symptoms but if it is not treated it can cause serious, and potentially life-threatening, liver damage.
A treatment course of antiviral drugs for eight to 12 weeks cures more than 95 per cent of cases.
NHS England said that since 2015, more than 100,000 people have been diagnosed and treated for hepatitis C.
The expert view
With hepatitis C curable in more than nine out of 10 cases, we are committed to finding and treating everyone who needs support and would urge those at greater risk to come forward by ordering a free and confidential home-testing kit online.
Professor Frankie Swords, NHS national medical director
The leading hypothesis for a cause of the outbreak is adenovirus, a common cold virus (Photo: Getty)
news
Why August is the worst month for drink driving
Caption: File photo dated 26/11/14 of a pint of beer and a set of car keys on a bar in a pub in central London. More than a fifth (21%) of motorists have drunk alcohol after 10pm when needing to drive before 9am the following morning, a new survey suggests. Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, which commissioned the poll, warned that drinking alcohol the night before getting behind the wheel can pose a “serious threat” because a “groggy head” means slower reaction times. Issue date: Friday July 18, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Philip Toscano/PA Wire
Photographer: Philip Toscano
Provider: Philip Toscano/PA Wire
Source: PA
August is the worst month of the year for drink-drive crashes as summer events create “more opportunities” to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol, according to new research.
What does the research show?
RAC analysis found an average of 721 people were injured or killed in drink-drive crashes in August between 2014 and 2024.
Medical marketing and Healthcare business analysis report, Medical Expenditure, Medicare Payment – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Therapy can clear your head (Photo: Fiordaliso/Getty/Moment RF)
Before July, there was an average 704 casualties over the 11-year period.
December, which is often associated with drink driving, had an average of 663 casualties.
The current drink-driving limit in England and Wales is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, or 35μg per 100ml of breath (Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA)
The expert view
Drink-driving is often seen as more of a Christmas issue, but our analysis shows collisions involving drivers who have consumed illegal levels of alcohol are actually far more common during the summer.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams
‘Opportunities and temptation’
Williams added that warmer weather, longer evenings and “festivals and barbecues” create “opportunities and temptation” for people to drink and then get behind the wheel.
Explained
5 min read
NEWS
2 min read
Are you having as much sex as everyone else?
It’s natural for libido to wax and wane due to life events, dating status or hormonal changes.
And it can be hard to say what a “normal” sexual frequency is. But research and case studies give us a rough idea.
The statistics
When it happens
61%
A 2023 survey concluded that almost two thirds (61 per cent) of us wait until night-time to have sex.
Only 14 per cent opt to get busy in the early evening, and 10 per cent in the morning.
Three
Research from 2019 suggests that the average number of times British live-in or married couples have sex per month is three.
Are Gen Z having less sex than older people?
I see my partner on the weekends and have sex with others in the week.
Leanne, a 27-year-old influencer from Bristol has sex three or four times a week, but only sees her long-distance partner on the weekends. They have agreed they can both sleep with other people during the week.
Millennials
35-year-old Rebecca usually sleeps with her partner once or twice per week due to not having much child-free time.
Clare, 32, says her job is busy and she has to schedule sex with her partner on weekends, or some afternoons twice a month. “Occasionally this slips and I do worry that it makes us not as connected,” she says.
Gen X
Daisy, 56
I haven’t had the issue of my sex life drying up with menopause. I’m more aroused now.
Anna, 52
I’ve been married for 15 years. I love my husband, but our sex life is non-existent, and has been for about five years.
Mimi, 46
I’m not really motivated to seek out partners; I vaguely like the idea of it but not enough to take any action.
Boomers
I’ve been married for 20 years and sex has become something of a rarity. We maybe have sex once a week on a Sunday morning as we’re both relaxed and I can take Viagra late on Saturday night – without it, I can’t perform.
JACK, 63, OFFICE WORKER, KENT
Couple, talk and arguing with fight at house for disagreement, conflict and divorce discussion. Woman, explain and bored man for conversation, toxic relationship and drama and marriage fail in lounge – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
The seven rules that could save your marriage
Keep your sense of self
I did what I thought I was supposed to do and forgot my needs and wants. I think it’s really important that you’re an individual and not just a person who is married.
KATIE STRATFORD*, A 55-YEAR-OLD MUM OF TWO, WHO DIVORCED ATER 19 YEARS
Caption: A married couple sitting in silence, looking in opposite directions. The image captures the concept of female loneliness within a marriage, emotional disconnection, and relationship problems. Symbolizes quiet desperation and isolation at home
Photographer: Galina Zhigalova
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Moment RF
Seven rules to save your marriage
(Photo: Kathrin Ziegler/Getty).
The small things
Small things, like being brought a cup of tea or saying thank you, make a big difference.
Therapists
Karen Deulofeu, who ended her six-year marriage, believes all couples should seek support, even before they think they need it.
Female psychiatrist discussing with mid adult woman during therapy session – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
(Photo: MTStock Studio/Getty).
Listen
Listen properly by repeating what you have heard and ask if you’ve got that right.
Don’t lose communication
People don’t talk about the deep issues; nobody else is going to do it for you. You don’t want to ask questions because it might rock the boat…you have to keep talking, and talk about what it is that you want within the relationship to keep going forward.
KATIE STRATFORD
‘One question is how to achieve such a longevity hack when most of us have relationships that unsettle us,’ says Dr Amir Levine (Photo: Oliver Rossi/Getty)
Seven rules to save your marriage
Remember that things change
“What you see on social media and what friends say is quite often the nice version. Everything is a phase,” says Deulofeu.
‘I’m genuinely considering returning to full-time work’ (Photo: PeopleImages/ Getty Images)
Caption: A senior couple spend time in an indoor sunny market. The woman looks through a clothes on a rail as her husband waits patiently behind her.
Photographer: Catherine Falls Commercial
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Moment RF
Look at yourself first
“Focus on what’s in your control and what you can do differently, rather than the other person or a situation that you can’t control. Invest in understanding yourself,” she adds.
There are things that all mid-life men should know about keeping their hearts healthy.
From eating more purple fruit to avoiding large bowls of pasta, consultant cardiologist Dr Zoe Astroulakis [below] shares her simple lifestyle habits she wishes her patients would take on board.
Positive changes to make
Swap ‘bad’ fats for healthy ones
You don’t need to eat a fat-free diet; the key is to reduce your saturated fat. Reduce your dairy and swap your red meat for lean meat such as chicken and oily fish.
Shoppers are set to face spiralling food bills as a result of the war in Iran (Photo: Bet_Noire/Getty)
Caption: man eating fried chicken
Photographer: Prapass Pulsub
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Moment RF
Control your portions
You don’t need more carbohydrates in a meal than you can fit in your hand. Enormous plates of pasta can cause blood sugar spikes, which can lead to health problems.
Positive changes to make
Supermarkets report increasing demand for blueberries (Photo: RHS/Guy Harrop)
Look for purple
Blueberries, black grapes and aubergines are great for boosting “good” cholesterol.
Have oats
Porridge is one of the healthiest breakfast options because it’s full of soluble fibre.
Swap supermarket-bought cereals for wholemeal oats (Photo: Arx0nt/Getty)
Ketamine has become an increasingly mainstream drug used in clubs and festivals in recent years (Photo: Getty)
Stop taking cocaine
It can provoke a massive heart attack, even in younger people who don’t have existing artery problems.
Stay below the alcohol limit
‘She doesn’t really like me drinking and says that I smell after a night out with friends’ (Photo: Getty)
The NHS guidelines of 14 units per week is still more than 1,000 additional calories.
The safest level to aim for is zero.
If you’re drinking, make sure you have some alcohol-free days each week and space it out.
Interview
5 min read
Positive changes to make
Do cardio too
Don’t only focus on lifting weights. It might make you look toned, but it says nothing about the health of your heart.
Caption: Close-up view of female jogger tying laces of her sport shoes before running exercise routine. Motivation, healthy lifestyle and fitness concept.
Photographer: Xavier Lorenzo
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Moment RF
Home blood pressure monitors are now available to buy for around £20, and are preferred over smart watches due to their more accurate readings (Photo: Getty Images)
Check your levels
You can get free blood pressure checks in many pharmacies or you can buy a monitor for around £30 to use at home.
Avoid night shifts
It disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm and can lead to increased cholesterol.
Engineers from a Thames Water leak hunting team unloads equipment from their van during a night shift in London in 2022 (Photo: Getty)
A sign to look out for
A beer belly is a sign you need to make urgent changes
Caption: glasses of Real ale beer on bar in traditional English pub
Photographer: Peter Cade
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Photodisc
It’s usually a sign you’re drinking too much. By the time your belly starts to bulge, it’s a sign that you’re consuming excess calories and storing too much fat internally.
LIFESTYLE
3 min read
Want a new career but worried it’s too late?
Mid-life is not too late to start again, says experienced recruiter Elizabeth Willetts [below].
Here, Willetts shares the best jobs to switch to during midlife if you want a change – without sacrificing pay.
Changing careers in your fifties
Mid-life career pivots can lead to higher earnings.
7.4%
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, workers aged 45 to 54 who voluntarily pivot jobs see an average wage growth of 7.4 per cent.
3.5%
And those aged 55 to 64 still see a 3.5 per
cent increase.
The AARP Global Employee Survey also found that over half of workers who changed jobs voluntarily experienced improvements in work flexibility and mental health.
So what job options are there?
Virtual assistant
As a virtual assistant your workload will be very varied and it could be anything from tidying inboxes, booking travel, sending invoices or updating spreadsheets.
More and more people are using AI for counselling (Photo: Oscar Wong/Getty/Moment RF)
Confident successful Indian female HR recruitment manager holding resume in hands while having an interview in a modern office, looking and listening to job candidate. Friendly interview between HR female director and caucasian job candidate. – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
You can start out earning around £20 to £35 an hour, but it can scale into agency work, launch support or even project management. Some earn very well.
Recruitment
Male candidate handshake with the recruiter at job interview – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
What it involves
You will source, screen and interview candidates to match them with the right job roles.
Who it’s for
You don’t need any qualifications but it’s suited to communicators and commercially-minded people.
Rearview female recruitment reading and checking resume in hands interviewing and hiring woman candidate for joи near laptop in office with glass windows – stock photo. (Photo: Olga Rolenko/ Getty)
From April 2027, retirement savings will be included when the tax bill for those inheriting money is calculated (Photo: Malte Mueller/Getty)
The pay
The salary van vary from £25 to £50k, but you can earn around £100k depending on commission.
Jobs to switch to in your fifties
Some estate agents give high valuations to drum up business (Photo: Monkey Business Images/Getty/iStockphoto)
Estate agent
It offers flexible hours and weekend staff can earn £15 per hour.
Training
This form of coaching for businesses could earn around £250 to £1,000 per day.
Caption: portrait of confident senior business man holding digital tablet in modern office
Photographer: zeljkosantrac
Provider: Getty Images
Source: iStockphoto
(Photo: Getty).
Sales
In the lower end, a sales rep can make £30k and on the higher end £50-60k, plus commission.
Why coaching is a good option
Coaching is incredibly varied and can be anything from career coaching, to confidence and leadership coaching.
As it is an unregulated industry, you don’t need qualifications but the more reputable option is the International Coaching Federation.
It’s a great career option for older people because clients genuinely value your wealth of life experience.
It’s flexible, scalable, and you can start doing it part-time alongside another role.
It could make you anything from £200 an hour, all the way up to £500 p/h+.
Even though the NHS Pension scheme is envied by many for its generosity, those working for the NHS facing financial struggles are choosing to opt out (Photo: Getty Images)
Consulting
This can be across HR, operations, marketing, finance, people strategy or project management, as it’s varied.
A huge number of businesses now want expertise without having to hire full-time staff so there is a big job market for freelance consultants.
Price on value, not hours – if your advice saves a client £200k, charging £150 an hour undersells what you’re worth.
‘My family have never been so close to a fire’
“I was on my way back to my call-out base, which is my home. En route, I was mobilised to Ingrebourne Hill. And then I saw my address on the tip sheet,” the 54-year-old told The i Paper.
“Never in my whole career have my family been so close to a fire. So yes, there was the added stress of a fire, but also making sure my family was okay.
“I had my fire brigade head on, so I thought ‘I will deal with this’.”
The flames ravaging Ingrebourne Hill came within about 30 feet of his house. His wife, daughter and two dogs had been evacuated, along with 35 nearby residents.
Seventy firefighters from 10 crews fought back the flames, some from residents’ gardens, after the fire leapt over rivers and onto 25-ft-tall reed beds in marshland. It incinerated around 10 acres of land.
The fire on Ingrebourne Hill, Rainham, destroyed around 10 acres of grassland (Photo: Councillor Luke Barry)
‘We squashed the fire from all angles’
“I took on the left-hand flank with another officer, and we fought the fires back in the reed beds,” Strand said.
“As it was travelling round the left-hand flank, it was getting very close to the housing. We pincerned the fire and squashed it from all angles, and the crews did a fantastic job of stopping that fire.
“And I thanked them all, actually, because it was my house.”
Strand in the Harold Hill fire station watch room. He is based in central London, but is spending most of his time dealing with fires in outer London boroughs like Havering (Photo: Joe Duggan)
Strand was speaking from Harold Hill fire station, in the London borough of Havering, which is deemed London’s wildfire hotspot.
Shortly after a reporter arrived at the station, the seven-strong team from Green Watch shift leapt into action as a callout alarm sounded.
Minutes later, a 4×4 terrain support vehicle (TSV), specially designed to tackle grassfires, was deployed to a wildfire in Romford, where three engines had already been dispatched. Smoke from one fire can be detected at the base.
Strand, a wildfire support officer, estimates about 80 per cent of his calls are now for grassfires. He is regularly deployed back to east London from his permanent base at Dowgate Fire Station, in the City of London. This summer, he has been “absolutely flat out”.
‘It’s one incident after another’
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in the amount of grassfires that are starting to spread across and are affecting property,” he said.
“I’m finding myself going from one incident to another incident to another incident.
“There was the Wennington fire. During that period, yes, we were busy, but I don’t recall being as busy with the amount of incidents that we’re having across London.”
In 2022, on the hottest day ever recorded in the UK, an inferno at the Havering village of Wennington destroyed 18 homes.
Firefighters from Harold Hill are scrambled on callout as London’s searingly hot summer sees wildfires continue to ignite across the capital (Photo: The i Paper)
Strand was among firefighters deployed to battle the blaze that caused devastation described as “apocalyptic” at the time.
This summer, tinder-dry conditions continue to fuel further blazes.
During the first weekend in August, London firefighters attended over 1,460 incidents, 423 of them grassfires. One of them was another blaze on Ingrebourne Hill.
From 2022 to 2025, there were 6,000 grassfires in outer London, three times more than inner London – Havering had the highest number of any borough, 536.
Some LFB officers have also volunteered to support brigades tackling recent wildfires in Derbyshire, Greater Manchester and the Isle of Wight.
‘We’re OK at the moment – but it’s exhausting’
Strand, a veteran of Grenfell and the 2011 Swinley Forest fire, said fighting blazes of such intensity and so often is “exhausting”.
One of the London Fire Brigade’s 4×4 terrain support vehicles (TSV), designed to tackle wildfires (Photo: Joe Duggan)
But despite the summer spike in wildfires, Strand says there is no impact on the response to other callouts, with units from fire stations across London moved to cover teams sent out.
“We’re managing the brigade as a whole. We haven’t run out of resources as such. We’re okay at the moment,” he said.
In recent years, LFB has added to its armoury of tools to combat wildfires, with TSVs capable of veering off-road, equipped with 475 litres of water and backpack blowers, like leaf blowers, to push back flames.
LFB’s “holey hoses”, another recent addition, create a sheet of water more than six feet high. Officers have also been sent to Morocco, Spain and South Africa for wildfire training.
To combat heat exhaustion, firefighters have rehydration packs, while LFB has been working with local authorities and farmers to create fire breaks in rural urban interface areas.
But the threat this summer is constant. And with no sign of a let-up in the heat, and grassland “tinder dry”, Strand urged people not to have barbecues or fireworks in open areas and to dispose of rubbish and glass responsibly.
“Wennington heightened everybody’s awareness in the country. The thing is, it gets forgotten over time,” he said.