Disposable barbecues face total ban as London fire chief calls for measures to tackle heatwave

The London Fireplace Brigade (LFB) skilled its “busiest week” in historical past final week.

And in response, London’s Fireplace Commissioner Andy Roe mentioned “pressing motion” is now wanted to introduce a nationwide ban on the sale of disposable barbecues.

He warned they might trigger “untold harm” within the days and weeks forward.

Firefighters attended greater than 1,000 fires within the week from July 18, taking greater than twice as many calls as common and tackling an unprecedented variety of giant grassland fires.

Throughout that interval the brigade obtained 8,302 calls, whereas on common it often takes round 450 calls a day.

Firefighters have already needed to forestall a severe blaze brought on by a disposable BBQ this summer time

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Disposable barbecues have been dubbed harmful by the LFB

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Mr Roe mentioned folks behaved “carelessly” and “recklessly” regardless of warnings about grass fires.

On Saturday July 23, firefighters prevented a severe blaze at Wanstead Flats, east London, brought on by a disposable barbecue.

Mr Roe mentioned disposable barbecues “might be purchased for as little as £5 and might trigger untold harm, particularly when the grass is as dry because it has been over the previous few weeks”.

He added: “Final week is one other instance of how we're more and more being challenged by new extremes of climate as our local weather modifications and we’re growing long-term methods to cope with extra incidents like this sooner or later.”

Waitrose, Aldi, and different retailers have introduced they'll now not inventory them due to their detrimental affect on the surroundings and wildlife.

The UK skilled a heatwave final week with a record-breaking excessive of 40.3C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, final Tuesday.

That day the fireplace service noticed its busiest day since World Struggle 2 on account of the intense temperatures, taking 2,670 calls and attending 1,146 incidents.

A complete of 16 houses had been misplaced within the giant fireplace in Wennington, east London, and crews needed to combat to avoid wasting the fireplace station itself from the flames.

The Nationwide Fireplace Chiefs Council has warned UK cities they should put together for wildfires after dozens of “unprecedented” blazes broke out throughout final week’s document breaking temperatures.

Firefighters additionally shared recommendations on tips on how to forestall grass fires which included not having barbecues on balconies, parks and public areas.