Why London Fire Brigade is running wildfire drills

Richmond Park hosted a wildfire drill last week

Firefighters are preparing for what is expected to be an increase in wildfires in London over the summer months with regular drills in the city's parks.

Since experiencing its busiest day since World War Two in 2022, London Fire Brigade (LFB) has dedicated more resources to tackling wildfires in the capital, nearly half of which is made up of green space.

Last week, Richmond Park in south-west London saw more than 50 people from LFB, the Met Police and the Royal Parks - the charity responsible for running eight London parks - take part in an exercise.

Rob Davies from the LFB said it was a "good opportunity for staff to see how the equipment works and how arduous it is".

Last Thursday's drill focused on protecting an area of special scientific interest hosting skylarks on one side, and the Royal Ballet School on another.

Surrey Fire and Rescue's Unimog machine, which holds up to 4,500 litres and is used to spray a curtain of water, was deployed to create a fire break.

This Unimog sprays a water curtain to break a line of fire

Mr Davies said there had already been 16 grass fires needing four or more fire engines to attend in 2025 following one of the driest UK springs on record.

By the same time last year, there had been just two. Overall, there have been 20 wildfires in London this year.

It follows a report from Imperial College London, which suggested there were 263 excess deaths caused by heatwaves in the 10 days since 23 June.

The report also stated wildfire risk was heightened by climate change, as high temperatures dry out leaf litter, grasses and trees, which leads to fires spreading rapidly across grassland and woodland.

Mr Davies said resourcing something like this was "quite difficult" because of the hot weather, but was essential to arrange as "it's a big part of our firefighters' day-to-day job".

He added: "We've invested substantially in wildfire technology, training and extra equipment.

"It's a risk that's not going to go away and scenarios like this are ideal."

Peter Lawrence, assistant manager at Richmond Park, said the drill was "excellent... because with extremes of weather, wildfire risk is increasing".

He added: "We are regularly seeing wildfires, whether that's in trees or grasslands and it does cause harm to wildlife.

"It was great to see the response, to get support from across the police and the London Fire Brigade and for our teams to be able to join in and really test what we can offer."

The advice remains to avoid any open fires.