Fire crews from both Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire are now reflecting on a very busy period following a spell of hot weather.
Temperatures across our area hit around 40c on Tuesday which saw Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service (LFRS) Control receive 1,119 calls on Tuesday alone.
The headset heroes at Fire Control based at Leicester's Southern Station arranged resources for over 118 incidents on Tuesday alone during a 24 hour period.
An aerial view showing the dramatic scale of one of the incidents LFRS dealt with during the heatwaves. Photo: Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service
A Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Spokesperson said: "Control took 374 calls on Monday and 1119 calls on Tuesday, this was for over 118 incidents.
On Monday we attended 51 incidents, 24 of these were fire related. On Tuesday we attended 58 incidents, 29 of these were fire related."
Melton Mowbray Fire & Rescue Station were kept busy too with 20 calls over a 6 day period for just the on-call crew alone. These incidents ranged from attending fires to providing strategic cover across the county.
The station also allocated firefighters to their 'Community Fire Cycle Crew' who have been out and about in the community offering advice and checking hot spots for open water swimming and other potential risks.
Crews from Melton Mowbray tackling a hay stack fire during their recent busy period. Photo: Melton Mowbray Fire & Rescue Station.
The 48-hour heatwave period had a serious impact on the significant rise in incidents for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service as well.
From 00:01 on Monday 18 July until 00:01 on Thursday 21 July 2022, fire crews attended a total of 243 incidents, which is 152 more compared to the same period in 2021.
The service declared also major incident during the evening of Tuesday 19 July 2022 due to the vast amount of call outs, including a 15-pump forest fire in Blidworth and a flat fire in the Hockley area.
There was also been a huge demand on the joint control room, which Notts share with Derbyshire Fire & Rescue, seeing a 312% increase in emergency calls during the heatwave.
Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service also declared a major incident on Tuesday afternoon due to a large number of resources being needed for multiple incidents including a farm fire in Walton On The Wolds where it's believed that more than 30,000 chickens died.
Updating his followers on Tuesday Chief Fire Officer at Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service Callum Faint said: "“One hell of a day” is the phrase I will use to describe today, many colleagues in Fire may use slightly different or elaborative words!! A massive thank you to all
@LeicsFireRescue that met todays challenges head on in a monumental effort and response."
Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Group Manager Andy Macey said: "The service has received an exceptional amount of calls over the past few days, resulting in a large amount of emergency incidents.
Fire crews have done an amazing job at every single incident they have attended. It has been extremely hard for them however due to their professionalism and teamwork; they have managed to get through it together and continue to do their jobs of making safer communities.
Our staff in joint fire control have also been working extremely hard in these busy periods. They aren’t visible to the public and their work often goes unseen, yet they’re doing a vital job when it comes to responding to any incidents that may come in."
Temperatures are set to reach highs of 24C this weekend with the Fire Service re-enforcing their message of avoiding open water to cool off when the weather is hot and be careful where cigarettes are disposed.
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