Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Friday that Britain must face up to the changing climate and accelerate its move to clean energy as he visited a town where a wildfire gutted homes.
In Stourbridge near the UK's second largest city of Birmingham, smoke rose from smouldering ruins of several roofless houses as firefighters sprayed water on the wreckage Friday.
The West Midlands Fire Service said 19 houses were completely destroyed and 18 others damaged in the town.
Meeting firefighters after viewing the scene, Burnham sounded shocked as he said the "combustible situation" was related to climate change and showed the need for a more rapid transition to clean energy.
"I've never seen scenes like this in Britain, where you just see a whole house gutted, smouldering," he said.
