Cambridgeshire families urged to stay sensible amid summer heatwave
The latest heatwave comes after a record year for the county's fire service
Last updated 10th Jun 2023
Families and friends in Cambridgeshire may bask in the warm weather this weekend, but they're also urged to stay safe.
The warning from the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service comes a year after the county experienced a record-breaking heatwave where temperatures reached 40C or higher.
A second heatwave in 12 months is due to hit the county after an amber heat alert for the east to last until Monday was issued by the UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office.
And those looking to enjoy the outdoors have been given some top tips on how to safely make the most of the summer sunshine.
“Enjoy the hot weather and summer but be sensible,” said Wayne Swales, area commander at Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.
“If you’re enjoying a barbecue or out with friends, be sensible about how you dispose of that; dry grass with a hot metal barbecue on the floor can cause a fire.
“One of the areas we move into this time of year when we start to see an increased risk is people using the water to keep cool, jumping into our rivers, streams and lakes.
“They are a huge risk so if you’re thinking of doing that, think that it’s not the safest thing to do.”
Between 4-31 July last year, fire crews attended more than 979 incidents which is the service’s busiest period on record.
More than 800 calls were also taken by the service’s Combined Fire Control between 19-20 July, which was its busiest two days ever.
Mr Swales said that crews have spent six months preparing for the hot weather, with measures already in place such as how to deal with possible calls.
“What was good last year was that the previous year before when we had significant heat, some actions in place supported us last year,” he said.
“Some examples of that are working with the local farming community, providing equipment to those farmers to be able to connect into our fire appliances to use their water.
“We’ll also look to use new vehicles that we’re purchased for a period of this year.”
"If our people aren't safe, we can't respond"
More support for staff welfare at the scene is also being provided by the fire service, particularly during extreme heat.
But firefighters are expecting to deal with more incidents of people jumping into streams, rivers and lakes.
“I think should we move into some hot weather into the next week, we will look to see our call rate increase and I’m confident it will increase,” Mr Swales added.
“One of the points was welfare for staff, so we’ve started to share new equipment and items to provide them welfare on the scene.
“This is important because if our people aren’t safe, we can’t respond to keep our communities safe.”