Nineteen people taken to hospital after England fire, as thousands evacuated in Croatia – Europe liveNEWS | 14 August 2026From 2h ago 06.38 EDT 54 patients treated by paramedics with 19 hospitalised after West Midlands wildfires We just got an update from the West Midlands ambulance service. A total of 54 patients have been treated by paramedics – including 19 who were taken to hospital – as a result of wildfires in the region, PA reported. The burnt out remains of houses in the Quarry Park Road area of Stourbridge, West Midlands following a huge blaze. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Share
7m ago 08.53 EDT Wildfires in Britain hit record levels after homes burn in intense heat Wildfires in England and Wales have hit a record level, fire chiefs said on Friday, warning that rescue services were battling to keep up with rising risks a day after fires raced from tinder-dry fields to engulf houses on the hottest day of the year. Britain has not faced anything like the devastation wrought across Spain, France and elsewhere in Europe this year, but as it endures its fifth heatwave of what is expected to be its hottest ever summer, it is dealing with more outbreaks of fire than ever before. Phil Garrigan, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, told Reuters the number of wildfires had now exceeded last year’s total of 1,017. “We’ve well surpassed the figures from the previous high of 2025,” Garrigan said, without detailing this year’s latest figure. “We’re only in the middle of August, and the wildfire season seems to extend way into November at this moment in time. So, we’re anticipating this being not just a record-breaking year, but a considerable increase on the number of wildfires previously experienced.” Share
24m ago 08.36 EDT Six firefighters hospitalised from smoke inhalation in West Midlands fires Six firefighters have been taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion after battling the wildfires in the West Midlands, Staffordshire Fire Service said. Glynn Luznyj, chief fire officer for the service, said: double quotation mark Crews have been working tirelessly through the night and thankfully the Goldenhill, Parkhall, Tamworth and Cannock Chase fires are now under control. It has been great to see people coming together to support each other. Crews have been provided with free food and refreshments and we’ve seen that people are coming forward to provide spare furniture and goods to those who have lost them to fires. We’re working extremely hard to keep everyone safe, but we really need people to do their part to prevent these fires from happening in the first place. Share
47m ago 08.13 EDT The Met Office, the official weather agency, said 38.1C (100.6 F) was recorded in west London on Thursday, marking the hottest day of the year. While temperatures cooled slightly on Friday, many parts of the country have seen little to no rain for weeks. This July has been the driest in England and Wales since records began in 1836. Share
1h ago 07.54 EDT West Midlands fire was like 'an inferno', witnesses say We are getting some witness accounts of the fire in West Midlands, via PA news agency. View image in fullscreen A drone view of burnt-out houses following a large grass fire which spread to several homes yesterday during the hottest day of the year, in Stourbridge, West Midlands. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters Andrew Reynolds, 42, told the Press Association: “My mum’s lost everything. Absolutely everything. There’s nothing saveable.” He described the scene on Thursday night as an “inferno” which destroyed the house his mother has lived in for 34 years. View image in fullscreen Andrew Reynolds, 42, standing in front of his mother's house which was damaged by a fire in Gorleston Road, Highers Heath, in the West Midlands. Photograph: Sophie Robinson/PA Mr Reynolds said all his grandmother’s possessions were in the loft and will have been destroyed in the fire. He said: “(It was) stuff that she treasured that was going to be left to me. No monetary value in it whatsoever, just the fact it was my nan’s and my nan was my whole world. It’s all gone, including 100 years’ worth of photos from the family.” He said the fire quickly “ripped through” the houses. Tony Aldhouse, 62, who also lives on the street, said his garden looks like a “bomb had hit it”. The fire service said there was a full evacuation of around 50 residents at the blaze at Gorleston Road, where a number of terraced houses have been damaged by the fire. Share
1h ago 07.37 EDT Meanwhile, French firefighters are still tackling a blaze in the Landes region, with more than 500 people evacuated as a precaution. View image in fullscreen A firefighter hoses down the charred ground as flames continue to burn in the Landes forest in Luglon, southwestern France. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Firefighters’ silhouettes are seen through thick smoke as a wildfire rages through the Landes forest in Luglon, southwestern France. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty Images French media are reporting that the emergency response saw the first deployment of a new water-bombing helicopter Chinook CH-47D, on loan from Australia, which is capable of carrying twice as much water as a Canadair aircraft. The machine can drop 11,300 litres of water, and refill within 90 seconds, it said, helping in effective response to any new wildfires. View image in fullscreen An Australian New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) CH-47D Chinook water-bombing helicopter flies above the forest of Luglon during a wildfire, south-western France. Photograph: Gaizka Iroz/AFP/Getty Images Share Updated at 07.51 EDT
2h ago 06.38 EDT 54 patients treated by paramedics with 19 hospitalised after West Midlands wildfires We just got an update from the West Midlands ambulance service. A total of 54 patients have been treated by paramedics – including 19 who were taken to hospital – as a result of wildfires in the region, PA reported. View image in fullscreen The burnt out remains of houses in the Quarry Park Road area of Stourbridge, West Midlands following a huge blaze. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Share
2h ago 06.35 EDT Sicily's Catania airport remains closed until Saturday due to Mount Etna's volcanic activity Meanwhile, flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Saturday because of ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing volcanic activity, which has forced hundreds of flights to be cancelled or rerouted over the past week, Reuters reported. View image in fullscreen A view of an information board inside the terminal at Vincenzo Bellini Catania Airport following the closure of the airport due to an ash cloud from Sicily’s Mount Etna eruption in Catania, Italy. Photograph: Matteo Minnella/Reuters All arrivals at the island hub, Italy’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic, will be suspended through 2am local time on 15 August, airport operator SAC said in a statement. The current disruption is the most severe to affect Catania airport in at least two decades, according to SAC sources quoted by Italian news agency ANSA. Some 630 flights were diverted to other airports, and more than a third of the 1,974 flights scheduled at Catania were cancelled. View image in fullscreen People gather to watch as lava flows down Mount Etna during a period of heightened volcanic activity, near Catania, Sicily. Photograph: Emilio Messina/EPA Share
3h ago 06.09 EDT England has seen only 6% of long-term average rain in August after driest July on record England has received just 4mm of rain so far in August, or 6% of the long-term average for the month, the Environment Agency said on Friday, as reported by PA. It follows the driest July on record for the country, when only 7mm of rain was measured, or 10% of the average. View image in fullscreen An aerial view as a person walks across dried ponds in Richmond Park, London, England. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images Share
3h ago 05.47 EDT 'One of worst fires in recent years,' Croatian PM says, as seven people reported in life-threatening condition Speaking in Omiš, Croatian PM Plenković said it was “one of the worst fires in recent years,” as he stressed the “what is most important is that there are no confirmed fatalities so far.” View image in fullscreen A large fire broke out last night in Lokva Rogoznica and spread to the area above Omiš, Croatia. Photograph: Jakov Prkic/CROPIX/SIPA/Shutterstock He thanked the local firefighters for their attempts to tackle the blaze, and pledged financial support to the communities affected by the fire. But local hospitals said that seven of the 14 hospitalised people were in life-threatening condition, Croatian public broadcaster HRT reported, with authorities working on transferring some of them to the capital, Zagreb, to receive specialist care. Share Updated at 07.16 EDT
4h ago 05.25 EDT 300 Czechs among 1,000 evacuated in Croatian fire as PM, president rush to site We are getting a bit more detail about the terrifying fire in the Croatian seaside town of Omiš. Around 1,000 people have been evacuated after wildfire in Omiš, Croatia Some 300 Czech tourists are among the 1,000 evacuees, Czech media reported, with a Czech police officer sent to coordinate the emergency response. Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenković is in the town holding a coordination meeting with all emergency services this morning. Croatian president Zoran Milanović is also expected later today. “All those injured in last night’s fire are being provided with the necessary medical care,” Plenković said in an earlier update on X. Share
4h ago 05.04 EDT Campaigners, scientists question why PM Burnham is reluctant to speak about the climate crisis Harriet Richards
Assistant environment editor On Thursday UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband posted a stark message on Instagram warning that climate breakdown is a national security threat to British people. He promised to work with countries around the world to tackle global heating, adding: “I feel this so deeply. We owe it to future generations to act. Our planet is sending us a warning signal and we are going to listen.” Meanwhile people are asking why prime minister Andy Burnham is so reluctant to talk about the climate crisis, the effects of which are raging around the country. Police footage shows scale of New Forest wildfire Sandra Laville, our environment correspondent, writes today: “From the first day Andy Burnham came into office, climate scientists, campaigners and some of the ordinary people surviving through this summer of extreme heat began to wonder when he would start to talk about the climate crisis. Up until this week, many held back from criticism. After all, he had only been in power for a couple weeks; it felt far too early to start to judge and call him out on it. But as we watched the footage of terrified horses galloping over cindering heathland in the New Forest while yet another wildfire took hold, it no longer felt too soon to wonder. Now people are asking aloud: why is Burnham ignoring what is in front of his face – the devastating impact of climate breakdown on the country and its citizens?” Hot topic: why is Burnham so reluctant to talk about the climate crisis? Read more Share
4h ago 04.43 EDT 150 million people in Europe to experience temperatures of 35C and above today While the temperatures might be slightly dropping in the UK today, it’s not really the case elsewhere as still some 150 million people in Europe are going to experience temperatures of 35C or above today, an AFP analysis showed. Temperatures are set to surpass 30C for around three out of five European residents (excluding Turkey), amounting to around 350 million people, AFP said. That’s a lot. Share Updated at 04.45 EDT
5h ago 04.19 EDT Seven people with life-threatening injuries after Croatia fire, as number of injured goes up to 36 Menawhile, the number of people injured in the Croatian fire has gone up to 36, with about 1,000 people also evacuated (9:36). 14 people were hospitalised, and seven have life-threatening injuries, Reuters said. View image in fullscreen A general view of a wildfire near Omiš, southern Croatia early Friday. Photograph: Jakov Prkic/AP “Everything flared up in a second,” Goran Lović, the owner of a cafe near where the fire broke out in Lokva Rogoznica, told the Jutarnji List newspaper. “It just happened all of a sudden, there was an open flame in the part where there is a forest and no houses.” Most of the affected people are believed to be tourists, with many people missing documents and documentations, the local Red Cross said. ““I haven’t experienced anything like this in 15 years,” Tomislav Gojo of the Split Red Cross told Jutarnij List. Share
5h ago 04.09 EDT 1,800 people evacuated overnight as German wildfire spreads Around 1,800 people had to leave their homes in western Germany overnight as a wildfire spread nearby, officials said Friday, with helicopters and army equipment deployed to help battle the flames, AFP reported. A district of the town of Hürtgenwald near the Belgian and Dutch borders was evacuated after the fire expanded from 25 hectares (around 60 acres) to 300 hectares by Friday morning. View image in fullscreen Thick smoke drifts over the Gey district from a forest fire in Hürtgenwald, Germany. Photograph: Federico Gambarini/DPA/AP Share
5h ago 03.41 EDT PM Burnham offers thanks to firefighters tackling West Midlands blaze UK prime minister Andy Burnham also responded to the wildfire in West Midlands, saying his thoughts are with everyone affected. “I’m in touch with local leaders like [West Midlands Mayor] Richard Parker and will be speaking to emergency services on the ground as they continue their response. Our firefighters are working in incredibly difficult conditions and putting themselves at risk to keep others safe. A huge thank you to them and everyone supporting the effort tonight.” He added: “Please stay safe and follow their advice.” View image in fullscreen Firefighters inspect a burnt-out house following a large grass fire which spread to several homes yesterday during the hottest day of the year, in Stourbridge, West Midlands. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters Share
5h ago 03.39 EDT 'Extensive' devastation caused by 'one of the most significant' incidents West Midlands Fire Service faced The latest from West Midlands is that fire crews are making progress tackling huge blazes that led to thousands of 999 calls and caused “extensive” devastation, a fire chief said, as reported by PA. View image in fullscreen An aerial view shows burnt houses as the wildfire continues to spread to the golf course in Stourbridge, England. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images Chief fire officer Simon Tuhill, of West Midlands Fire Service, said one huge blaze in Stourbridge, which forced some people to flee after it started tearing through homes, was “one of the most significant” incidents the region’s fire service has ever dealt with. An update from West Midlands Fire Service on Friday morning said crews were “making progress” and “tactically working across several different areas of the site”. ShareAuthor: Mabel Banfield-Nwachi. Jakub Krupa. Source
