Emergency services in Yorkshire and Humberside declare major incident as wildfires rage

Emergency services across South Yorkshire have declared a major incident on Tuesday afternoon (July 19) as the heatwave stretched services.

South Yorkshire Police announced at 6.17pm on Tuesday that emergency services working across the county have declared a major incident.

The force said that the major incident is "due to the demand on services from fires across the county".

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"The fires are being prioritised in relation to risk to life and risk to property."

A fire in Goldthorpe on Monday night (July 18) [Image: South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue]A fire in Goldthorpe on Monday night (July 18) [Image: South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue]
A fire in Goldthorpe on Monday night (July 18) [Image: South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue]

"All of the agencies are working closely to bring resources together and minimise risk. Please avoid calling 999 unless life is at risk."

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Humberside Fire and Rescue also declared a major incident at 5.24pm due to the high volume of 999 calls its crews and control room were responding to.

"If you smell smoke please keep windows and doors closed. Please only call 999 if you have a genuine emergency," the team said.

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North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue declared a major incident on Tuesday afternoon.

"Declaring a major incident ensures that our partners are aware and lines up to support us if necessary," they explained.

"We’re still here to keep you safe and respond to your call if you need us."

"Our resilience plans have been put into action and we’ve responded to a number of large incidents today."

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"We’ve still be able to retain the ability to respond to threats/ risks to life across the city and county."

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue also said they were having a very busy day.

"Our control team are still receiving a very high number of calls as we deal with several weather incidents across West Yorkshire Please only dial 999 in an emergency," they said.

This comes after a record-breaking day weather-wise, where the UK saw the temperature rise above 40C for the first time, and wildfires broke out around the country.

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