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Fire brigade.JPG
Reuters
Fire brigade.JPG
Reuters
USA News

Fire chaplain calls for prayer as extreme heat sparks blazes across the country

by Alex Collett

Extreme heat has sparked fires across the country, as the Met Office records hottest temperatures ever. 

A major incident was declared in London, and multiple counties across the UK,  following the several blazes.

According to mayor Sadiq Khan, the London Fire Brigade had it's busiest day since World War Two.

Dozens of properties were destroyed in the capital; 16 firefighters were injured and many have seen their homes dessimated, sheltering in temporary accomodation. 

Scientists registered record temperatures of 40.3C  in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

Geoff Bond who's a chaplain with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service told Premier it has been difficult time for the fire services. He said: "It's very harrowing to notice that these fires are breaking out all over the place and not just in scrubland and farmland, but right where people are living, and it is threatening their both their livelihoods and indeed their lives and that's very, very distressing for many people.

"I think we can see it from the London fires where there are more people living, sometimes you get to five breaking out in areas where people have been walking in the countryside but this feels very different particularly the things I've noticed about London there are lots more people being affected by this because it's so close to where they're living.

Bond is concerned about the firefighters on the frontline of the blazes.

"Chaplains are on hand as to talk, we're in the stations either weekly or fortnightly," he continued. 

"Some of it's mundane, just catching up on the news, but of course, we are there also for individual phone calls, for individual conversations to meet personally. 

"The Fire Service has a long history of having chaplains on hand for anybody that needs them and that's for people, whether they're of the Christian faith, or whether they have no faith at all, so it's important that we are there to support them."

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