Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has visited the burnt-out remains of homes in the West Midlands gutted by a wildfire last week.
She walked among the shells of houses on Quarry Park Road, Stourbridge, following the blaze which destroyed 19 homes. During the visit, she described the devastation as “absolutely horrendous” and praised the local community.
Community praised for coming together
“The community have been exceptional, looking out for each other,” Rayner said. “The emergency services, the police, the fire, the ambulance service, the local authority, the local MP, Cat (Eccles) here, and the community have come together to really support each other.
“But it is devastating to see the level of damage and the emotional turmoil of losing everything, and that’s what these families have gone through.”
Wildfires and climate pattern
Rayner added: “We’re seeing a pattern here with the wildfires. We’re seeing a pattern with climate. We have introduced £100 million more equipment and we’ve got specialist fire crews now that look at wildfires, and they have been pushed by what’s happened.”
She continued: “What we are doing is we’ll be making sure that we come together and we design a fire service that is able to respond to the challenges that we face. But it’s clear that these challenges are becoming more frequent.”
Residents return and wider fires
Residents evacuated from the area have been allowed to return to view their properties, according to an update from Dudley Borough Council on Sunday. Some 13 households whose properties were partially damaged have been able to return, chief executive Balvinder Heran said in a residents’ briefing.
The Stourbridge fire is among several blazes across Britain in the last week, including in South Wales, the New Forest, and the Cairngorms in Scotland. On Friday evening, millions in England and Wales received a mobile alert warning of a “very high risk of wildfires nationally”. Several fire services have since asked the public to only call 999 for genuine emergencies.
Temperatures are set to cool and rain is expected in some areas in coming days, but extreme heat is forecast to return after that.
