UNDER pressure firefighters have tackled a series of devastating wildfires, responding to 74 callouts in a few days as heatwave temperatures soared.

Parts of the Lickey Hills were reduced to a charred, smouldering wasteland on Monday.

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A fire at Hartlebury Common on Tuesday evening also caused widespread damage.

However, cattle escaped the blaze unharmed as it engulfed parts of the common, forcing the closure of Hartlebury Road in both directions.

The fire came at the end of the hottest day of the year during a two-day red 'extreme heat' warning from the Met Office.

Worcestershire reached a record temperature of 37.1C earlier that day, breaking the previous record from August 1990.

In London it was hotter again, reaching 40.2C at Heathrow Airport.

A provisional temperature of 40.3C was recorded at Coningsby, beating the previous UK record of 38.7C set in 2019.

The cause of the fires at Hartlebury and the Lickey Hills remains under investigation by Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

At the height of the Lickey Hills fire, 12 fire engines were at the scene.

Since Friday local firefighters have responded to 74 calls about fires in the open or similar calls involving standing corn, crops or rubbish.

Crews attended the blaze at Hartlebury Common at 8.08pm on Tuesday and were there overnight, dampening down.

Some firefighters had only finished tackling the blaze at the Lickey Hills before being dispatched to Hartlebury.

Crews were also still at the Lickey Hills on Wednesday after they first began tackling the blaze on Monday.

 

 

Despite all the local fires, firefighters from Worcestershire offered assistance to tackle fires in London after the fire brigade there declared a major incident.

A spokesperson for Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Assistance was offered to colleagues in London through National Resilience and specifically with our two Wildfire Tactical Advisors although this was ultimately not required.”

 

 

“Some of these fires have been significant, especially the one on the Lickey Hills where at the height of the incident 12 fire engines were in attendance.

 

 

"Four fire engines, plus a water carrier and Landrover, attended the incident at Hartlebury Common last night and this is still ongoing. And these are in addition to more usual calls, including an increase in the number of road traffic collisions over the same period."

 

 

The service is asking people not to take barbecues outside of their own property and to consider carefully before starting a barbecue in their gardens as well as avoiding bonfires or other open-air fires at the moment.