{"id":45543,"date":"2026-08-15T00:57:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45543"},"modified":"2026-08-15T00:57:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:57:37","slug":"tinderbox-britain-bans-disposable-barbecues-sends-nationwide-fire-alerts-as-europe-battles-blazes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45543","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Tinderbox\u2019 Britain bans disposable barbecues, sends nationwide fire alerts as Europe battles blazes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-a0074a\" class=\"body-graf\">LONDON \u2014 The U.K. imposed a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues and sent a nationwide alert warning of a \u201cvery high risk of wildfires\u201d as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/europe\/spain-removes-remains-11th-century-kings-monastery-europes-wildfires-s-rcna592497\" target=\"_blank\">European countries battle to keep blazes under control. <\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-493d80\" class=\"body-graf\">Authorities are bracing for the prospect of fires breaking out in the days ahead, with drought conditions across much of Britain and a prolonged heat wave this week bringing temperatures in excess of 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f365c5\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cBritain is a tinderbox right now,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/united-kingdom\/andy-burnham-british-prime-minister-keir-starmer-labour-king-charles-rcna588324\" target=\"_blank\">Prime Minister Andy Burnham <\/a>warned on Friday as he visited the scene of a fire in Stourbridge, in the West Midlands region, that destroyed 19 homes. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen scenes like this in Britain,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6d0af4\" class=\"body-graf\">Wildfires are not typically a major threat in Britain, usually known for a temperate maritime climate and frequent wet weather, even in the summertime. The U.K. does not have any firefighting planes, a common sight in many other countries, but Burnham said he would seek to commission some in an effort to \u201cface up\u201d to the \u201cchanging climate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7147d2\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cFarmers are watching crops fail and firefighters have faced hundreds of wildfires in a matter of weeks,\u201d he added in a video shared on X. \u201cThis is what climate change looks like here and now.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-dbf0ce\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1667\" data-original-width=\"2500\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260721-burnham-rs-d4ab94.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260721-burnham-rs-d4ab94.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260721-burnham-rs-d4ab94.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260721-burnham-rs-d4ab94.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260721-burnham-rs-d4ab94.jpg\" alt=\"Andy Burnham Becomes The 59th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland\" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Andy Burnham on July 20 in London.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Karwai Tang \/ WireImage via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-711c3a\" class=\"body-graf\">Many of England\u2019s rolling green fields<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/united-kingdom\/heat-waves-europe-london-parks-grass-photos-drought-climate-change-rcna591340\" target=\"_blank\"> are currently a sea of brown, dried-out grass,<\/a> with firefighters and officials fearing any spark could lead to catastrophe.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-24b1d4\" class=\"body-graf\">One Stourbridge resident said that trees were \u201cexploding\u201d in the conditions as the fire spread.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-568009\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe just grabbed everything and left,\u201d Paul Nash, whose garden was damaged, told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-486619\" class=\"body-graf\">Burnham also announced a temporary ban on the sale of popular disposable barbecues.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-14c403\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cRetailers have been informed that disposable barbecues must be removed from sale immediately. The temporary measure will remain under review but will stay in place while the heightened wildfire risk continues,\u201d the U.K. government said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-061b6d\" class=\"body-graf\">Emergency alerts were sent to phones across England and Wales nationwide on Friday, warning: \u201cResidents, landowners and visitors should not undertake any activity that could start a fire, including disposable barbeques, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b44dfb\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cEven a small flame can rapidly develop into a major wildfire placing lives, homes, businesses and emergency responders at risk,\u201d the alert continued.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8d1d63\" class=\"body-graf\">Phil Garrigan, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, said the number of wildfires seen this year had already surpassed all-time records.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-95ba60\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe\u2019re only in the middle of August, and the wildfire season seems to extend way into November at this moment in time. So, we\u2019re \u2060anticipating this being not just a record-breaking year, but a considerable increase on the number of wildfires previously experienced,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-aa6587\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe\u2019ve declared 11 major incidents over the course of \u2060the last 24 hours,\u201d Garrigan added.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8decc8\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThe demands and the requests for support have probably outstripped the capability of the U.K. fire and rescue service &#8230; so we\u2019ve struggled to \u200cgive fire and rescue services exactly \u200bwhat they want.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"anchor-4ca487\" class=\"body-heading\">Fires spread across Europe<\/h2>\n<p id=\"anchor-a56626\" class=\"body-graf\">Many European countries are battling fires after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/europe\/western-europe-sets-new-temperature-record-heat-waves-pummel-region-rcna591661\" target=\"_blank\">long stretch of hot and dry conditions. <\/a>A raging wildfire in the province of Huelva, southern Spain, triggered an operation to evacuate around \u200b700 people on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bd349d\" class=\"body-graf\">More than 2,000 people evacuated \u200bthe village of Gey in western Germany on Friday after a \u200cwildfire near the Belgian border, while France evacuated 525 people from the village of Luglon in its southwestern Landes region.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7047c2\" class=\"body-graf\">Meanwhile, Croatia and Greece both evacuated tourists from resorts as fires spread. Flames enveloped settlements and trees around Omis, a scenic town on Croatia\u2019s prized Dalmatian coast surrounded by trees and \u2060rocky hills, officials said, injuring 40 and forcing 1,200 to \u200bevacuate.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-23660b\" class=\"body-graf\">More than 300 people were evacuated by boat from Siviri in northern Greece, south of the country\u2019s second city, Thessaloniki.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9d7b47\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">People wearing face masks, some clutching children or pets, boarded dinghies and boats in the seaside town as a wildfire ate through the nearby forest and columns of smoke turned the cloudless sky a dark gray.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON \u2014 The U.K. imposed a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues and sent a nationwide alert warning of a \u201cvery high risk of wildfires\u201d as European countries battle to keep blazes under control. Authorities are bracing for the prospect of fires breaking out in the days ahead, with drought conditions across much&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260814-Stourbridge-fire-ch-1445-502610.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}