Awful fire in Greater London

[MrsDThomas]

So many houses lost. Absolutely horrific.

hope none of you ate affected.

Yes, you are right @SweetSakura. I think uou are referring to Ladybower reservoir which is huge.

I saw someone say that they reckoned that the change to expressing temperatures in degrees Celsius had blinded some people to the significant differences between 1976 and now. 75F in 1976, 40C in 2022. Doesn’t seem meaningful until you consider that 40C is 104F, the kind of temperature that you had to go to Egypt for in 1976.

I hope everyone is ok.

It was awful wasn't it?
Never seems to get mentioned though
Nor 1990

@ClaudiusTheGod sorry if I’m a bit stupid, can you explain that to me about the difference in the calculations?

@3luckystars it was max 35.9 °C (96.6 °F) in 1976, which is a lot less than the current 40.3 C (104.5 F).
Either is quite a bit more than 75 F (23.9 C) though, typo @ClaudiusTheGod? But I get what you mean - people don't 'feel' the number 40 sounds as bad as the number 96 (or 75).

Anyway I'm melting, and am thankful the wind is coming from the right direction, or I'd be in the smoke.

1995 was drier and hotter than 1976

No one seems to remember that

I do. It's the year DD was born and it was v v hot for ages and ages.

Everywhere was brown and dry and dead looking.
It was horrid and lasted months

In my memory hot summers were:
1975
1976
1984
1989
1990
1995
2003
2006
2018

People harking back to the 70's do they not realise that in terms of climate change, it being 50 years ago is just a blip? All this rapid acceleration has happened since the industrial revolution, no one disputes that now (unless you are one of the 5g mast conspiracy lot and if so def no hope for you)

A normal house, either timber framed or brick built with timber joists, floors and trusses will be fully ablaze in 4 mins.

Concrete tower blocks are different. They are designed to keep fires contained within one flat. Shouldn't be anything flammable in the communal areas

The 4 mins came from a fire officer doing a fire safety talk at work years ago

It’s almost always arson. Most of the awful forest fires in the world turn out to be deliberate. They are rarely true accidents. People are arseholes.

We’ve had quite a few farm fires here today, one was electrical fault on equipment but they think the rest were deliberate.

There have been houses burnt down near Sheffield & loads of fields of corn burning all day, it's awful. Ds came home past a park & there are idiots with disposable barbecues & even just lighting fires, why on a day like yesterday when everything is tinder dry?

This would include having complete bans on BBQs or anything with an open flame. It would essentially mean that during hotter days it might become illegal to have a BBQ in your back garden.

Yes, measurements sensible countries already take when it's hot and dry.

Really scary. I was saying to my mum that when covid started I kept thinking "oh my gosh this is so bad, I hope it passes us by" expecting it not to come near us or affect us and then my mum got it and was hospitalised. 😢
Now I've been watching the news and seeing the fires in France, Spain etc and said the same thing and now the fires are in London. I live in Harrow and there have been fires here as well as Wembley.
I'm really worried 😢😢

I'm really surprised nobody thought to call for a fire ban. When it gets very hot in Oz nothing with a flame is allowed, including charcoal bonfires, camp fires, and even welding. This is one reason everyone here has gas bbqs, as they are permitted. Lots of fires here caused by arsonists, and stray cig butts. If this is the climate you're going to be getting, the UK should enact something similar.

Australian here, waving from Melbourne. I'm so sorry, MNers and general Brits. My fingers are crossed that the worst is over and there are no more losses.

Meanwhile, maybe do as we do in heatwaves:

No barbecues
No unattended flames of any kind, especially candles; Victorian terrace rows can go up like that because of attic fires, and these happen in Melbourne and Sydney too
Stub out your cigarettes really well, don't just chuck 'em
Pour your rinse water (dishes, shower) on the garden, if you have one
Cool, moist washcloth on the back of your neck
Slip, Slop, Slap -- slip on a T-shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a broad-brimmed hat. A cotton-drill cricket hat is good. (If you do 1 and 3 you don't really need the sunscreen on your face, I reckon.)

Please do consider doing a First Aid qual, which a lot of Australians have in case we need to help as volunteers in emergencies.

If your local fire brigade does volunteer training, and you're able to do it, consider this too. The climate is changing, and we will need all hands on deck, wherever in the world we are. 🌞

It's peoples negligence causing the fires, not climate change.

Boris is literally responsible for closing Fire Stations in London. Whilst the Tories are in Power, nothing will change.

The maximum temperature in 1976 was under 36 degrees. That's quite an increase.

It's going to take people NOT voting Tory!

Some of them were probably arson, very difficult to stop that.

It's climate change that caused yesterdays temperatures and the fact that everything is so dry. The conditions for the fires to take hold and spread.

Negligence provides the spark - climate change makes the fire.

Right on cue 🤣. It really beggars belief.