Why we should all be worried about wildfires

0:02Sky News, the full story first.

0:11Wildfires in Britain are no longer confined to the Moors. They're reaching our streets and our homes and knowing what to do now matters to all of us. This is why. Hello, Ed Conway here. Here is what might sound like a slightly random question. What do AirPods, bananas and a pair of shoddily made running trainers from the 1970s have in common? On the surface, not very much But on my podcast Stuff Matters I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them You will see how together they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now Just search for it on your podcast app and follow

1:02This has been one of the most significant incidents that West Midlands Fire Service has ever attended. The devastation is extensive. Hi everyone, Neil here. Now, we have been planning on continuing our summer series taking a Friday look at some of the lesser-known figures in big tech. We will be back to that next week. But we just couldn't ignore the wildfires. And I think most of us, when we see pictures of those fires, have two reactions. The first is, that looks absolutely terrifying. But the second, if we're honest, is, it's over there. Up a moor, or a hillside, or somewhere out in the countryside, it's not going to come down my street.

1:41And then, Sturbridge happened. So we noticed the smoke, and it just got thicker and thicker. It was quite hard to breathe, actually, when we left the car to get into the home. So at the moment, we have grab bags by the door, ready to leave if we have to leave. And that's the bit that makes this feel different, because you don't need to live beside a forest to be at risk. It might be a park, a field, a railway embankment, or just a large patch of very dry grass at the end of your garden. So today we're going to talk about what you can actually do. What should you clear or move around your home?

2:15What does your family need to have planned? And if you call the emergency services, who is coming? And do they have what they need? Before we start, though, one quick but important bit of advice. If you see a wildfire, do not try to tackle it yourself. Get somewhere safe and call 999. Steve Doudini spent 31 years with the London Fire Brigade, retiring as a borough commander. He now works as a fire and resilience consultant. Steve, look, you yourself have tackled wildfires up close. The one I'm thinking of is back in 2011, the Swinley Forest wildfire. you were there just for those who have not experienced it up close what's it like yeah it's fairly terrifying you know I mean fires are normally bounded within a building certainly for city firefighters like me you know you're used to dealing with fires inside buildings small grass fires and so on but when you get in the middle of something like that the power of nature is really the noise, the smell, the heat is really quite overwhelming and it makes you feel really vulnerable.

3:22With the experience you've had not just in 2011 but across the course of your career you no doubt have been paying careful attention to what we have seen this summer in terms of wildfires. What struck you about what has been going on in 2026? I think 2022 was a precursor when you had the village of Wennington, where a wildfire started allegedly in a compost heap, spread to grass, then it spread into those houses across multiple areas. And then about five miles to the west of me is Dagnum. And again, on the same day, the same afternoon, a fire started there in the parkland that spread and took out about eight houses.

4:02I think there was 16 houses taken out in Wennington and about eight in Dagnum. The first time we've had a really hot summer since, again, it fell to West Midland yesterday because, you know, you're seeing sometimes on these days a 500 % increase in calls to the fire service control rooms. I think the thing that has been most striking about what has been happening of late is that we have seen wildfires before, as you see, and we have even seen them in an urban setting. But I suppose most of us who are lucky enough to live in one of the bigger cities just don't think that this is the sort of thing that could happen to us.

4:37Then you take a look at what happened in Stourbridge and quite clearly all that is needed is a patch of dry tinder somewhere. Yeah, without a doubt. It could happen anywhere. It could happen behind me. At the back of my house is a school field and different local authorities manage it different. So some areas you can see where they've got the country parks or common land that goes up against gardens. Sometimes they've got about like four or five metres where they've cut the grass really low. So if there is a wildfire, you've got that fire break that's already pre-built, if you like, that means it doesn't get into gardens because although very few houses are touching against it, what you tend to have are wooden fences, wooden sheds, lots of plants that are dry at the time of year anyway.

5:23And before you know it, your fire in the field is in the garden, takes the shed, takes the fences, and then it takes the house. But speaking very specifically about Stourbridge, we saw that some houses were incredibly badly damaged, burnt away to almost nothing. a couple of metres away, some houses look barely touched. Why might that have happened? It's because when you've got a grass fire or a wildfire, tends to be on a really broad front. It's not just like one building fire or a car fire spreading from one car to the next to the next, almost in a linear way. These fires are very broad and they often finger out in different directions because not only have you got the direction that the wind's blowing, you've also got radiated heat so if you've got a house that has got very little or well managed bit of ground behind it you could be in a position where the grass there hasn't burned you haven't got a lot of radiated heat next door might have a big bush and then that bit will take in a finger so it will approach that house get that garden fence and yeah we saw it at Wennington we saw it last night and I've seen the aerial footage where you've got houses that are completely untouched then you've got one either side of it that's partly burning, another one has already burned.

6:41So it's just the way fires spread. Because it is such a broad fire front and it moves so quickly, it's almost impossible to determine where to put your resources. So who in your mind, Steve, needs to be thinking very seriously about whether or not their home might be at risk from this sort of fire? I mean, it's pretty clear. we're not just talking about, you know, properties located in the remote countryside anymore. No, no. I can think of lots of examples of, you know, even terraces of houses where gardens back onto each other. If people are not managing their gardens very well, we've had lots of experience of that.

7:19Bonfires in gardens, still people are having bonfires. Listening to colleagues, they've been called out four or five times to bonfires out of control. So people are still having bonfires. Why? it but it's obvious if you've got a wild land or a common or a country park behind your house then common sense dictates you want to be liaising with the local authority to try and keep that area behind your house well managed but if you are in a terrace of houses with back-to-back gardens as you might get in inner london someone's had a bonfire next to their shed really there's very little you can do and i don't mean to sound negative because sometimes it's a whole community it's a whole education change that as a society we need to recognise that in our summers that are getting much much hotter we really need to get to a point where we think fire risk is as big a risk as we do with burglary risk for example.

8:15Well just for a second then Steve pop your firefighter's helmet back on and imagine that you are taking a walk around a kind of a two up two down terraced property, car space out the front, a little bit of a garden out the back. What would you be looking for? Managing dead foliage, really. You know, cutting back the trees, sweeping up leaves, clearing your gutters. You know, how many people dump rubbish beyond their garden sheds, out of sight, out of mind? Compost eats are a notorious danger because they self-eat. When it comes to the summer, tidy your garden, you know, do a spring clean, if you like, and then look at that risk from wildfires.

8:55Give yourself the best chance by taking away all of that dead stuff. Clearly, barbecues manage them really well. And I'm not saying people shouldn't have barbecues because I'm a regular barbecue person. But, you know, I've certainly avoided them this year because my garden is so dry. There's nothing I can do to help my garden. But really, it's just thinking about looking at what will burn, trying to reduce it. So prevention is the best thing you can do. And then in terms of protection, what I would say is we never would encourage people to try and tackle fires. If you're really at risk, keep a grab bag.

9:32You know, you're urging things like your car keys, your passports, your bank cards, somewhere where they're easily available. And if a fire does start in your garden, get out, call the fire brigade out really quickly because you will be amazed at how quick it spreads. Can I just pick up on something there? Because I think, you know, if you've served in the military, you've been in the fire brigade or indeed you've been a journalist, you will understand what a grab bag is. But essentially, it is a bag you have right next to the front door with your essentials in there that if push comes to shove, you can pick up and you can be out the door in 30 seconds.

10:04Are you saying that, you know, if we are living in a part of the world where, you know, there is a significant or an increased risk of wildfire, we should be making plans to get out of there, having a kind of an escape plan in your head if the worst comes to worst? Yeah, and I don't want to dramatise it because I could be potentially saying that, you know, 50, 60, 70 % of the country are doing that. I think it's just knowing where everything is. You know, if you're in real danger, if you feel that fires are spreading within your area, you can smell the smoke and see the smoke, then you can be a little bit more proactive and make sure, you know, I think we might have to go at some point.

10:43But generally speaking, just in general, maybe we're all a little bit institutionalised if you've been in the military or the services, but it's just knowing where that stuff is. So if it comes to it, you're not scratching your head thinking, what do I need to take? Where do I have to find it? Make sure you know where your keys are, you know where your phone is, anything that's essential. Just be ready to go. How quickly from that first whiff of smoke that you can detect in your nostrils, could people, could families find themselves in a very, very sticky situation? If it's headed your way, it could be really quickly.

11:19I mean, I think if you can see smoke and it's headed your way, then potentially the fire's headed your way. You know, if you can see it and you can taste it and smell it more than just hanging in the air, you know, and I think when you look down a road and it looks like thick fog coming towards you, then potentially the fire is really close. It could be moving your way. The telltale sign is the sirens. You'll hear the sirens from the fire crews. Don't panic, but be aware of it. And if you can taste and smell the smoke, you know, certainly if you open your back door and you can hear the flames and your eyes are watering with the smoke, then that's time to really think about getting out.

12:00What would you say to those who perhaps at times like that think about protecting their property, perhaps trying to wet it, to dampen it down the garden, the walls, whatever else? What should your first thought be? Not grabbing the hose and presumably kind of pointing at the walls? Realistically, from an honest experience and safety point of view, you're not going to do much. You know, when you look at the science of firefighting, if you look at the amount of water that's required, say, to put out a car fire in terms of the litres per minute, the flow of water that you need to overcome the rate of burning, using a garden hose to try and wet down a roof when you've got dozens of megawatts of fire hidden towards you is literally going to be the same as spitting on a bonfire.

12:44You were going to do nothing. So I don't expect people to understand the science of firefighting, but take it from a professional. You need a certain amount of water to tackle a certain size of fire. When there's a warehouse on fire, why do you think there's 15, 20 fire engines there with multiple hoses, with high-reach appliances that are pouring jets of water into the roof? When you look at the science of firefighting, And it's just, if you think of, you know, throwing a cup of water on a burning car, not going to do anything. Let's talk very specifically about those who do understand the science of firefighting, the firefighters themselves, your colleagues in brigades up and down and across the country.

13:22I mean, first and foremost, we should say thank you to them because they are out there putting their lives on the line. But have they got everything that they need to tackle a problem that has quite clearly become worse over the past few years? I don't think so. I think National Fire Chiefs Council's position statement and the Fire Brigade Union, so you're talking about the representative body for the firefighters and you're talking about the representative body of the fire chief. They're all coming together and they're all talking about on the same terms. I think the Fire Brigade Union have agreed this week that they're going to have a national fire summit where they're bringing together the fire chiefs, government, various departments.

14:02You need the Home Office. You need DEFRA. You need the farmers. You need academics. You need people who understand science, climate change people, the representatives of the fire chiefs, the representatives of the firefighters all need to come together. But largely, generally speaking, it varies across the country. Steve, look, clearly both you and I feel that what we are seeing this summer is not an exception, that we are going to see more summers like the one we are currently experiencing. Given your background, given the role that you have now, how worried are you that we are not ready for this?

14:40There's been various serious fires this summer almost on a weekly basis. And on every single occasion, the fire service is struggling to cope. And I'm looking beyond the headlines as well. Every time we have a really hot summer, which are going to be increasing, you find that the fire brigade are desperately short of people unable to cope. And you are getting calls that go unanswered or get answered eventually. But sometimes the resources are not going to be seven or eight minutes away like they are in normal times on a wet weekend night in November. They're going to be 30 or more minutes away.

15:15And that is a big difference when it comes to firefighting. And so, no, we're not. I don't know if we'll ever be ready, but this is not a one-off summer anymore because every year that goes on is then the hottest summer on record. We might get a couple of years that are cooler, but I think this is going to be the norm. And from a firefighting point of view and a fire safety point of view, yes, I'm really concerned. Steve, thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it. And that is your lot for today. Indeed, this week on This Is Why, A pretty busy one, in fact, as well as, of course, the wildfires.

15:50We've covered the record A-level results and the fact that our university sector is still struggling. Binyam and Netanyahu putting the brakes on a Gaza peace deal. We've also been covering prisons and the early release of some pretty violent criminals. But also, of course, we couldn't cover this week without talking about the eclipse as well. Any of those grab you, just scroll back in your feed and do remember to let us know your thoughts. Why? At Sky.uk. We're back on Monday. Till then. Have a great weekend.

16:26Hello, Ed Conway here. Here is what might sound like a slightly random question. What do AirPods, bananas, and a pair of shoddily made running trainers from the 1970s have in common? On the surface, not very much. But on my podcast, Stuff Matters, I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them. You will see how together they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in. The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now. Just search for it on your podcast app and follow.