People in Stourbridge have described the fires that devastated more than a dozen homes as “horrendous” and “distressing”, with one describing blazes that surpassed the height of residential houses. Multiple fires spread across the West Midlands on Thursday as temperatures reached record highs of 38.1C in the UK, during the country’s fifth consecutive heatwave. Fifty-four people, including 19 who were taken to hospital, were treated at eight different fires on Thursday, West Midlands ambulance service said, with the fire service confirming 19 homes in Stourbridge, a market town in Dudley, had been fully destroyed and an additional 18 damaged.
During a visit to Stourbridge on Friday, Andy Burnham said the UK was like a “tinderbox” and announced the commission of firefighting planes to tackle future wildfires. The Guardian spoke to people who were forced to hurriedly evacuate from their homes in Stourbridge on Thursday, as a wildfire spread near the town’s golf course. They repeatedly praised the support and efforts of local authorities and neighbours, but are yet to return home, with some staying at a nearby hotel or a makeshift evacuation centre that had been set up at a local boarding school.
Gemma Hobbs, 46, and her partner, Andy, 61, were evacuated from their home on Osmaston Road on Thursday, as the wildfires raged over a mile away. Andy described seeing a house in flames. Gemma said: “I looked out the windows and all I could see was thick black smoke.
My husband came home in a bit of a flap and said: ‘We’ve got to get out. We’ve got to get out immediately.’” Andy added: “It’s just the fact you don’t expect something to be as exponential as this so quickly. From the span of the area, it’s over 40 acres, that’s what we’ve been told.” Gareth Jones, 59, was providing shelter to his neighbour John Bairner, who had to be evacuated overnight and said it was a “scene of devastation”, calling the wildfire “terrifying”.
Absolutely frightening how quickly it spread. It’s a major event.” Bairner added: “All of the fields have gone, they’re all black. There’s a lot of residents up there, with buckets, hoses, just dampening down because it’s still smouldering away up there.” The Old Swinford hospital, a boarding school in Stourbridge, was set up as a makeshift evacuation centre for affected people late on Thursday.
As queues of cars and volunteers dropped off donations and supplies on Friday, the headteacher of the school, Paul Kilbride, described the fires as a “devastating experience”, with more than 20 people evacuated from a nearby care home. I think they also showed great spirits [and] they obviously want to go home now,” he said. Green said he saw “plumes of smoke” on Thursday afternoon before he was directed by police to evacuate to the town hall.
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