0°C
record temperature — Coningsby, Lincolnshire, 19 July 2022[1]
The evidence
The years are stacking up
The Met Office runs a dedicated fire weather service via the National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS)[6], and its climate research tells a clear story. On 19 July 2022, Coningsby in Lincolnshire recorded 40.3 °C — the first time the UK exceeded 40 °C [1]. That same summer brought the country’s first-ever red extreme-heat warning[3] and the first hosepipe bans. A World Weather Attribution study found that without human-caused climate change, temperatures of 40 °C in the UK would have been extremely unlikely — extreme heat was made 10× more likely [11].
More recently, 2025 was the UK’s warmest year on record (mean 10.09°C, series back to 1884), also the sunniest year on record (1,648.5 hours)[2]. A Met Office rapid-attribution study found 2025’s record annual temperature was ~260 times more likely due to human-induced climate change; a summer as hot as 2025 is now 70 times more likely than in a natural climate[2]. The top ten warmest years have all occurred in the last two decades[2].
2025 was also the worst year for UK wildfires on record: 47,879 hectares burned, surpassing the previous record of 28,754 ha (2019) by more than 19,000 ha. 181 fires exceeded 30 hectares (previous record: 151, set in 2022)[10]. In 2022, the UK burned 20,362 ha across 151 fires >30 ha[9]. England burns on average ~4,600 ha per year in normal years (2009–2017 average) [5] — so 2025 represented a tenfold spike.
The pattern is not a string of unlucky seasons. It is a baseline shift: hotter, drier summers are becoming the norm, and with them a longer, more dangerous fire season that was almost unknown a generation ago.
Each dry summer makes the next fire more likely, harder to fight and more expensive to clean up.
The baseline shift — what Met Office fire-weather data now shows
Ignition
How a fire gets going
Most wildfires are not started by lightning. They are started by us.95% of European forest fires are human-caused[12]. In the UK, ordinary equipment and ordinary carelessness, meeting an ordinary dry day, are how most fires begin. None of these causes takes much to trigger one — and all of them are preventable. The 2019 Marsden Moor fire was started by a barbecue [8].
- 01 Hot equipment Mowers, strimmers, grinders and chainsaws throw sparks. On dry grass or bracken a single spark can ignite a patch that becomes a fire within minutes.
- 02 Barbecues & bonfires Unattended or poorly contained fires, embers and hot ash can ignite the grass around a garden, field or campsite — especially when the ground is bone dry.
- 03 Vehicles & power lines A hot exhaust, a broken-down vehicle on a field, or a sparking overhead line can ignite dry vegetation — a leading cause of wildland fire in temperate climates.
- 04 Intentional & arson A share of fires are deliberate. Arson is illegal, costly to respond to and dangerous — but even a small deliberate fire in dry conditions can spread far beyond its point of origin.
Behaviour
How fast it spreads — and how it jumps
A wildfire’s speed is set by the fuel, its moisture and the weather. In dense forest it may crawl; in dry grassland it can race. Winds and rising heat carry firebrands — burning embers — ahead of the main front, starting new spot fires across roads, fences and rivers that would otherwise act as barriers.
The 2022 heatwave demonstrated the scale: the London Fire Brigade recorded its busiest day since World War Two on 19 July — 2,670 calls against a normal ~350 [4] — and attended 340 grassland and wildland fires in the first week of August, compared with 42 the same week in 2021 [4]. By the time a fire is reported, the front may already be moving faster than crews can reposition — which is why response depends on early detection and, above all, on having water on hand.
- FuelWhat it burns throughGrassland and bracken dry out fast and burn fast — the likeliest UK fuel. Moorland and heathland hold peat that can smoulder for weeks. Steep slopes and ridges fan the fire uphill; wind shifts the front and throws embers well ahead of the flames.
- DangerWhat you need to knowFire can outpace a car on an open road in grassland. Spot fires can start tens of metres to kilometres ahead of the front. Hot, low-humidity afternoons are the peak fire window. Smoke and embers reach far beyond the visible burn.
Exposure
Who and what is at risk
Risk concentrates where people, property and sensitive land meet dry, open country.- Homes Rural homes & farms Properties isolated in moorland, heath and woodland are hardest to reach and hardest to protect. A fire reaching a farmhouse is a catastrophe, not a nuisance.
- Land Woodland & forest Conifer plantations in particular are dense, resin-rich and flammable. A crown fire through a stand is the hardest kind of fire to control.
- People Communities & health Smoke carries fine particles far into towns and cities, worsening asthma, heart and lung disease — affecting people who never see the fire.
- Systems Infrastructure Power lines, railways, roads and telecoms can all be damaged, cutting services and complicating the emergency response for the whole region.
The chain that leads here
Hotter summers → drier fuel → bigger fires → less water
Breaking that chain is where prevention — and responsible water use — come in.
- Climate change is raising the baseline: hotter, drier, longer fire seasons.
- Human ignition is the most common trigger — and the easiest to stop.
- The more water left in the system, the better we are able to respond when a fire does start.