London's Burning

[ThePumpkinPatch]

I can't believe what I've just seen on the news... I'm genuinely gobsmacked and really praying for all those affected.

How do these temperatures set so many buildings alight in London, when hot countries (who predominantly have homes built of wood & to a lesser standard) don't? I know there's wildfires but they're usually started in woodlands/foliage (that haven't seen a single drop of rain in months) aren't they?

I guess I'm just shocked that that it obviously has been hot enough to set buildings alight 😳 Those images on Sky News are what I've always imagined the end of the world to look like and it's shocked me. Here in North Yorkshire it's currently 35° (was 40° earlier) but thankfully it's very windy - as always.

I was thinking about this last night as I live in a very hot city- and residential areas rarely go up (there was a rural fire last night on a mountainside and forest fires are still quite common though, usually from stray cigarettes).

Things that are different:

• no large areas of grassland in or close to urban areas; houses have small gardens if at all and they are often paved.

• plants are adapted to the heat. Even though we've been high 30s since May it's still very green. So less flammable.

-people are careful with fires. E.g. DD was at holiday club last week which is near a forested area - they were supposed to have a bonfire (in a safe area) on Friday but it was too windy, so they didn't, in case the fire carried. In the UK they might have lit it anyway. Eid BBQs happened in front of houses in paved areas and were carefully contained.

-The houses themselves are not that flammable- all stone, very few soft furnishings. So if the worst did happen the spread would be slower.

Fireproofing is going to be part of climate change adaptation unfortunately.

So are the locations in Croydon.

Good to know. I rarely turn mine.

They are not at all rural.

OK, if you think that ancient heathland, woodland and downland is as urban as Croydon Town centre then there's not much else to add.

Exactly. 10 degrees hotter than the UK's record high. And parts of Canada do have hot, dry summers. I mean not Nunuvut but BC and Ontario.

Those who deny the reality and scale of what happened yesterday with regards to the fires across London and right across many parts of England are attempting to gaslight the fire brigade and the many whose homes burnt down.

Read this which is just the account for London alone. www.london-fire.gov.uk/news/2022-news/july/firefighters-heroic-actions-prevented-fatalities-on-brigade-s-busiest-day-since-world-war-ii/

This was way, way beyond anything seen since WW2 in terms of number of fires that broke out. The fires will have been started by multiple causes. The ground and pretty much everything was extremely dry, the humidity very low and strong hot gusty winds will have fanned them meaning that they spread well, like wildfire.

I agree with those who say that adapting to the risk of wildfires will be part of climate change adaptation.

If there's something I learned from yesterday - that was was to check my compost heap!

On a compost heap note if you don’t want to waste water to wet it, men’s wee is good for compost. This also saves you flushing! So next time someone asks just what on Earth they can do about climate change, tell them to piss on the garden.

(this is all true albeit facetious)