Wildfires Destroy Homes in UK West Midlands Amid Record Heat

Wildfires have destroyed homes on Brunswick Gate in Stourbridge, described as the town's most expensive street, with at least six houses consumed by flames.

Up to 30 properties in total were destroyed as firefighters battled blazes across the West Midlands. The fires spread rapidly through dry grass and woodland, forcing residents to evacuate. A child and three firefighters were among 19 people taken to hospital, out of 54 patients treated by paramedics for injuries related to the wider West Midlands wildfires.

Around 100 firefighters tackled the inferno near Stourbridge Golf Course, which obliterated 40 acres of land. Local Labour MP Cat Eccles estimates up to 30 homes were completely destroyed. The blazes occurred on Thursday, the UK's hottest day of the year, and follow England's driest July on record, with only 7mm of rain measured. Chief fire officer Simon Tuhill of West Midlands Fire Service described the devastation as extensive and one of incidents the region's fire service has ever dealt with.

Thousands of emergency calls were made. Across Europe, firefighters are struggling against multiple fires as a new wave of record-breaking heat grips the continent. In France, a new fire in the Landes region forced over 500 evacuations, and a historic fire near Bordeaux last month displaced a quarter of a million people. Efforts to contain a wildfire in Germany were complicated by unexploded World War II munitions, and shifting winds in Croatia forced over 1,000 people to flee.