UK in ‘firewave’ as extreme heat provides ideal conditions for wildfires, experts warn

Smoke from a wildfire at Tintwistle Moor in Derbyshire. Scientists have said the recent spate of fires were made more likely by climate change. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The UK is in the grip of a “firewave”, as the summer’s extreme heat produces the ideal conditions for wildfires, scientists and environmentalists have warned.

A particular danger was that more blazes seem to be taking place closer to urban areas rather than in remote countryside, causing hazards to homes and health, they said.