Burnham sends in the troops to fight wildfires as PM bans BBQs and commissions firefighting planes
"You are taking risks with other people’s home, with other people’s lives," the PM said as he announced a ban on BBQs.
Andy Burnham has announced that the government plans to commission firefighting planes to combat future wildfires, as the PM pledged a 'financial support' package for fire services battling wildfires.
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Speaking on Friday, the Prime Minister said the Government will commission firefighting planes to combat the future spread of wildfires, saying the aircraft “would have made a difference” in tackling the Stourbridge blaze.
Mr Burnham added that plans were being drawn up for emergency financial support for fire services battling the spread of wildfires.
He said “Britain is a tinderbox right now” with “37 fires smouldering around the country”.
It comes as two people were arrested on suspicion of arson, after a series of West Midlands wildfires left 19 people hospitalised.
The connected fire in Goldenhill, which has now been brought under control, affected four homes and a number of gardens, police said.
Read more: 'Apocalyptic' scenes in West Midlands as 'devastating' wildfire tears through homes
The Prime Minister today announced a temporary ban on disposable BBQs as he urged caution, explaining: "You are taking risks with other people’s home, with other people’s lives, if you act recklessly.”
He added that the country has to “face up” to the “changing climate” - and the need to transition to “more clean energy”.
Mr Burnham told broadcasters: “I’ve never seen scenes like this in Britain, where you just see a whole house gutted, smouldering.”
It comes as the PM warned that flooding could follow the wildfires sweeping the country, after the Met Office forecasts the dry spell to continue until the end of September, when some rain is expected.
Firefighting planes, capable of carrying thousands of gallons of water, are already in use across Europe, as the continent battles forest fires in remote areas and helps prevent the spread of raging wildfires.
The Prime Minister said 100 military personnel had been deployed to a blaze in South Wales to offer “critically needed” support.
It comes after a 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, both from Stoke-on-Trent, have been arrested on suspicion of arson after a grass fire which damaged four homes in the city, Staffordshire Police said.
The force said the arrests were in relation to a grass fire at around 4.15pm on Thursday at the back of Maureen Avenue, Goldenhill, which spread quickly.
Four homes were affected, alongside a number of gardens, the force said, but fire crews have since brought the blaze under control.
MPs have urged the Prime Minister to deal with the “desperately worrying” strain on the UK’s water resources by speeding up the rate at which Britain’s new reservoirs are built.
Some nine new reservoirs are planned to be up and running by 2050 in England, aimed at helping to protect against water shortages by collecting more rain during wet periods, after a more than 30-year gap in which none have been built.
The issue has been thrown into stark relief by the ongoing drought across the country, with the Environment Agency revealing on Friday that the dry weather means that reservoir storage for England now stands at 66%, down from 69% a week ago and nearly 14 percentage points below the long-term average for the time of year.
Storage stood at 85% at the end of June, but has fallen steadily in recent weeks.