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The government has issued a temporary ban on the sale of disposable BBQs as it looks to reduce risk of wildfires during the continued heatwaves across the country.
Guidelines issued by the Office of Product Safety and Standards on 14 August confirmed the scope of the ban to include domestic single-use only disposable BBQs which it said posed an “unacceptable risk to the safety and health of the public” during extreme heat and must not be made available for sale either in store or online “at the current time.”
London Fire Brigade said that the ban comes one day after a large grassland fire in south London that saw 60 firefighters tackling the blaze which they believed was started by a disposable BBQs. An LFB spokesperson cautioned: “the heat from a disposable BBQ can be retained for many hours, even after we think we have put it out safely.”
The National Fire Chiefs Council warned this week, as temperatures exceeded 35 degrees, that the risk of major incidents continued to grow, with the number of major incidents linked to extreme heat and wildfires rising to 25 already this year.
West Midlands Fire Service chief, Simon Tuhill described grassland in his services area as a ‘tinderbox,’ with the response to the wildfire in Stourbridge needing over 100 firefighters. It has destroyed 19 homes according to reporting from the BBC. He said it was a “large and complex incident” that took place on one of the hottest days of the year with the fire control team taking thousands of 999 calls. He added that it had been “the most challenging conditions” he had ever seen in his 28 years fire service career.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said it had responded to 22 wildfire related incidents, treating 68 patients in total with 25 requiring hospitalisation. WMAS Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, added: “Yesterday was an extremely busy day for our crews, responding to a number of serious fires across the region.”
In South Wales, the fire and rescue service said it had requested military aid to provide additional logistical and defensive support as it had been “working around the clock to protect communities, homes, businesses, infrastructure and the environment.” Military Aid to the Civil Authorities requests form part of long-established plans for managing prolonged and complex incidents, advised the service.
The BBQ ban applies to Great Britain.
We will be discussing the impact of wildfires on the emergency services during a panel discussion led by David Shukman at The Emergency Services Show. David will be joined by LFB Commissioner Jon Smith, Herts fire chief Alex Woodman and Lancashire chief John Charters for this timely and and important conversation. Register for your free ticket here.
