In record 40C heat on 19 July 2022, 18 homes were lost in village of Wennington – a signal for firefighters to adapt, but UK response remains fragmented
W
hen neighbours urged Lynn Sabberton and her partner, Terry, to flee from their home in Wennington one day in 2022, the couple weren’t sure they should bother. A fire was burning in their village, on the eastern edge of London, but Terry thought it was too far away to be a problem. Struggling with a lung disease made worse by the record 40C heat that day, 19 July, he was wearing only his underwear and refused to budge from his armchair.
Lynn remembers two police officers kicking open their front door and shouting that it was time to go. Lynn pleaded to be allowed to get Terry some clothes and was bundled upstairs to find them. Could she grab some papers? No. Her purse? No. Her cat, Jack? Also no.
As they stumbled out into the unbelievable heat, the sky was dark and there was panic among the crowd of neighbours. No one was remotely prepared for the disaster unfolding around them: a fire that had leapt from a nearby field into the heart of their village. Over the next few hours, 18 of the village’s homes would be burned, including Lynn and Terry’s.
