England firefighters called to record number of serious outdoor blazes in summer 2022

Soaring temperatures caused naturally-occurring wildfires to double while separate report shows fire crews had slowest attendance times

Fire crews attended a record number of serious outdoor blazes in England in summer 2022, as scorching temperatures caused the number of naturally occurring wildfires to soar.

Figures released by the Home Office showed there were 4,017 serious outdoor fires between July and September, during the period of record summer temperatures – almost three times as many as the same period in 2021.