Firefighters test wildfire capability in Richmond Park

Local TV

London Fire Brigade firefighters practise using new equipment to tackle wildfires in an excercise in Richmond Park. Wildfires have become a more frequent danger across the UK as a result of climate change.

Transcript

00:00So it's very important that we're testing that, we recognise the risk, we've invested

00:04substantially in wildfire capability alone and also the biodiversity of Richmond Park

00:10is very important for London Fire Brigade.

00:14London is one of the driest places in the UK and despite stereotypes about British weather

00:20common all across the world, London and the surrounding area actually ranks below New

00:27York, Istanbul and Rome in terms of annual precipitation, putting it at a higher risk of wildfires than

00:37many other places in the UK.

00:40The exercises in Richmond Park by the London Fire Brigade were to practice with new equipment

00:49meant to tackle wildfires, which is becoming an increasingly significant concern across

00:56the UK due to climate change.

01:00We've had a particularly warm summer so far.

01:04The National Drought Group, which includes the Met Office, regulators, government and water

01:11companies as well as other organisations, said on Tuesday that it had met as five areas of

01:19the country remained in droughts, with six more in prolonged dry weather status.

01:26England is seeing widespread environmental and agricultural impacts from the lack of water,

01:34which is hitting crop yields, reducing feed for livestock, damaging wetlands and river wildlife

01:41according to the group.

01:44This has also increased wildfires.

01:47Experts warn climate change is driving more extreme weather conditions in the UK, worsening

01:54drought and dry spells and making each waves more frequent and severe.

02:02So if we have a large scale incident such as today's scenario, what we would do is we'd ask

02:08for assistance if we were getting low on resources.

02:11So Surrey being our bordering fire rescue service, it's a mutual aid, so they can call on us, we

02:17can call on them.

02:18It's about sharing our resources to make sure that we can tackle some real wildfires.

02:23So London is obviously a built up area, our built environment.

02:26We're used to fighting fires in houses.

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