Hertfordshire fire crews' response to heatwave chaos labelled 'incredible'
A major incident was declared on Tuesday (19/7) at the height of the heatwave.
Last updated 20th Jul 2022
Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue staff and crews managed an unprecedented number of 999 calls and attended multiple large-scale incidents across the county during the heatwave this week.
Crews responded to an unrelenting stream of large-scale incidents including road traffic collisions, fires close to major motorways, as well as crop fires and field fires.
A major incident was declared on Tuesday (19/7) at the height of the heatwave, and was stepped back at 9am today (20/7).
The incidents below only represent a fraction of those the service responded to, but they demonstrate the scale and pressure of what teams experienced as they responded across the county as well as over the border in London, Buckinghamshire, and Cambridgeshire in support of other fire and rescue colleagues.
- Combine harvester fire in Buntingford: six appliances in attendance
- RTC on the M1: five appliances in attendance
- Field fire in Rushden: six appliances in attendance
- Field fire in Hemel Hempstead: six appliances in attendance
- Field fire in Codicote: 12 appliances in attendance
Chief Fire Officer Alex Woodman, Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service said:
"The scale of the service-wide challenge has been huge, and the response of all staff has been incredible."
"Our firefighters responded to a significant volume of multiple and concurrent incidents across Hertfordshire and neighbouring areas, and all on-call firefighters across the county made themselves available.
"My heartfelt thanks have gone out to all who stepped up during one of the busiest days in HFRS history; under extraordinary conditions we were able to keep our residents safe. As temperatures have fallen overnight and demand on the system has reduced, we made the decision to step back our major incident declaration this morning. However, our hard work does not stop there as we expect demand for our support to remain high over the coming days."