34 degrees on Monday

Genuinely interested to know the reason why, compared to '76 so many houses have been destroyed by fires during this heatwave. My first thought was that, whilst there were many areas of moorland, scrub land and forests that caught fire in '76, the density of housing had increased so were in proximity to fire risk areas. However, looking at reports, the houses involved have been in situ for many years. Given '76 was not just a heatwave lasting for 10 weeks but a full on drought with rationed water, dried up reservoirs etc. on the face of it it would have been more likely that more serious property damage would have occurred then rather than now.

I cannot believe it is all simply down to irresponsible behaviour e.g. Chinese lanterns. BBQs as there were plenty of numpties around in the '70s and a much higher proportion of people smoked back then too. I don't believe in the case of the Fire services any cutbacks have made much, if any difference because they were over stretched back then and are overstretched now. It will be interesting to see what the Fire Services say when it all calms down.

I suppose the next thing will be dealing with the inevitable flash floods that always seem to follow on from prolonged heatwaves in the UK

It is awful for all those affected and who have lost their homes through , what, could be argued is a natural event and insurers duly pay out all claims.

 

Probably a triple whammy of:

Barely any rain for weeks over here / it being the hottest two days in the U.K ever / Tory cuts have decimated public services.

Decent place to start imo.

 

Did you actually read my post as all those points were addressed and do not explain the increased property damage compared to '76? As I had pointed out fire services were fully stretched in '76 and the water shortages were even worse as was the duration of the heatwave. ( 10 weeks with 15 consecutive days over 32C) It is obvious that the Fire service is massively underfunded but not so obvious that fully funded it could have coped with the sheer number of incidents that took place. I was asking why these latest fires resulted in far more properties being destroyed than in '76 and why so many started simultaneously.

 

Colin has the final word.

 

It's hotter that's why. You're more likely to burn your dinner if you stick the oven on at 250 degrees for an hour than you are if you bang it in the slow cooker for 24 hours.

Fire services are more stretched because of Tory cuts. I know you say they were stretched before but they're MORE stretched now because for example round here a third of firefighters have been lost since the Tory scum got into power which results in homes within walking distance of Barnsley fire station burning for an hour before the fire service gets there.

 

You asked a question and I gave you an answer. It's hotter than in 76. And we've had barely any rain for weeks. Plus, the Scum in charge have decimated public services for years.

It's probably a little more nuanced than that, but I reckon they're the main starting points.

 

I was at my mums in the north at the weekend to help with her garden and her lawn was green (and she hadn't watered it), ours in London has been like straw for 2-3 weeks. It rained for about 5 minutes last night, and it pretty much evaporated on contact and I genuinely couldn't tell you the last time it rained. It's certainly at least 3 weeks but could be 4 or 5, and oddly, the lack of rain (in the south east at least) has hardly been mentioned at all.

One other factor that may be worth adding is the level of litter. Just driving back home down the A1 on Sunday, the level of debris on the fringe of the motorways was awful to see. Not only awful to see, but in extreme temperatures, dangerous too.

 

Litter is a fair point. I was watching Look North and Paul Hudson mentioned it aswell - specifically glass bottles that can cause sparks in heavy sunshine.

 

https://www.buxtonfc.co.uk/post/kirby-signs-on-and-barnsley-game-off

Didn't realise our friendly at Buxton last night was called off because of the heat. It's not mentioned on our official site so I hope none of our fans turned up without knowing.

 

This culture war has gone absolutely bátshit crazy. Yesterday was the hottest day ever recorded in Barnsley. It was 39-40 degrees. In our well insulated mid-terrace house I spent the day in my pants feeling sick as a dog from the heat.

Almost every flower in our garden has wilted and died.

50% of bees die after 6 hours of exposure to 40c.

Parts of our town including houses literally burned to the ground.

It isn’t hysterical or ‘snowflake’ to point these out. It was 4 degrees hotter than 1976. That puts it above human body temperature. At this temperature, sweating and our body’s ability to cool itself breaks. Infants and the elderly are at extreme risk.

The hottest day in recorded history isn’t “just summer”.

The reason my generation are ‘snowflakes’ is because we’ve inherited an absolute crock of shít. Our planet and our houses are on fire, and working for the equivalent of half the average wage in 76 we can’t even afford a tinderbox of our own. Our public services have been decimated, so when our rented hovels go up in smoke we can expect a response from the fire brigade 100 yards away in an hour. Then when we get to hospital with our smoke inhalation we’re left outside in an ambulance or inside in a corridor to die. So no, we don’t want to be ‘resilient’ and accept this. But the older generations have the audacity to say we should, while they enjoy their 4 bed semi and an Audi.

 

I think you've summed things up particularly well.

We've passed the point of things being a culture war and instead its turned into a world of dystopian contrarianism. It doesn't seem to matter what the topic is, how much sense, reason and scientific fact there is, we have a significant faction who will gladly take the opposing view or find the most tenuous extract of exceptional whataboutery to build their flame threatened straw man.

Its tedious beyond words. But frightening in equal measure.