Hampshire and Isle of Wight firefighters tackle 175 open area blazes in 7 days as heatwave grips UK

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) report crews have dealt with 175 blazes in seven days.

They also responded to more than 90 callouts on Sunday.

A statement from HIWFRS on Twitter said: ‘It's been an exceptionally busy seven days for our amazing Hampshire and Isle of Wight teams.

‘Over 90 incidents on Sunday.

‘More than 175 fires in the open, all with potential to spread rapidly, 50+ co-responder calls.

‘Please continue to take care.’

This comes as an amber weather warning for extreme heat was in place across the county over the past two days.

Temperatures reached high 30sC in some areas.

Record levels of heat were recorded in several parts of the UK, including 40.2C at London Heathrow airport.

Neil Odin, chief officer for HIWFRS, praised his colleagues across several departments for the hard work and dedication they showed.

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In a statement posted on Twitter, he said: ‘I’m incredibly proud of the commitment shown to our communities by all @HantsIOW_fire teams over the last few days in hot and challenging conditions.

‘Your response to the extraordinary number of incidents and calls we have dealt with has been amazing.

‘My thanks to our teams in @hiwfrs_control, our on-call crews - supported so well by their families and employers - our wholetime firefighters, incident commanders, co-responders and our @hiwfrs_ICU, plus the many support teams behind the scenes.

‘Together we make life safer.’