I’ve fought wildfires for decades. None of it prepared me for the UK infernos this week

‘My fire service was just one of 15 across the country to declare a major incident on Tuesday 19 July.’ Firefighters in Wennington, east London. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Over the last 27 years as a firefighter, I have fought plenty of wildfires and other extreme weather events, and I have seen at first hand how these incidents have become more frequent and extreme. At my former station in Herne Bay, on the north Kent coast, we had specialist equipment for fighting wildfires, and we would travel for miles to tackle flames raging across land.

None of it compared to what I experienced in this week’s heatwave.