'Unsung heroes' saved homes from grass fire

The grass fire in Dagenham came close to houses, which were evacuated as a precaution

People would have probably lost their homes in Monday's grass fire in Dagenham, east London, were it not for the actions of maintenance workers, according to the council leader.

The fire broke out behind Clemence Road, which backs on to Beam Parklands, at about 18:30 BST on Monday. The blaze, which covered about eight hectares (20 acres), was tackled by more than 120 firefighters.

Barking and Dagenham Council leader Dominic Twomey said the fire would have spread to homes if maintenance workers - who he described as "unsung heroes" - had not cut fire breaks into the grass over recent weeks.

London saw four wildfires break out over a 24-hour period from Monday into Tuesday.

Twomey said: "They very fact that our team – our front-line maintenance team – worked incredibly hard over the last months to put in the fire breaks that were acknowledged by the London Fire Brigade and others that stopped these fires spreading to residents' homes, I think it has to be acknowledged that they are often the unsung heroes.

"People won't see that, people won't understand that."

The council leader said the team's actions were not "by chance" but planned out months in advance and carried out regularly.

The fire charred fences of some properties which backed on to the field

"They're effective. Without it a number of residents would have probably lost their homes and belongings," he told a council meeting on Tuesday.

London Fire Brigade borough commander Blake Betts also said the fire breaks had prevented the blaze from spreading further.

He told the BBC: "In this instance they've worked really effectively to stop the spread, or control the spread to one particular area."