Leave the matches in the drawer

Written by

August 14, 2026

Millions of people across England and Wales received an emergency alert to their phones on Friday as the government warned against activities that could start fires.

The deputy prime minister, Louise Haigh, said it was the most extensive use to date of the emergency alert system, with phones beaming a siren noise about 7pm, with the warning: “There is a serious risk of wildfires nationally.”

People have been urged not to light barbecues, campfires, fireworks or anything else that could spark a blaze while the wildfire risk remains high. They have also been urged to call 999 immediately if they spot a fire.

…

It has been a record year of wildfires in England and Wales: the number so far this year has passed the 1,017 recorded in 2025. Fire services have declared 11 major incidents in a 24-hour period starting on Thursday.

So last year was a record and this year is a new record. Not a good trend.

Comments

5 responses to “Leave the matches in the drawer”

Lady Mondegreen

Aug 14, 2026 9:16 PM

I know the subject is serious, but Larry the Cat had an amusing tweet about this: https://x.com/Number10cat/status/2088381842340680103?s=20

Also, apparently the alert scared the hell out of a lot of people. Probably best to save that particular alert for imminent danger.
Ian Hagreaves

Aug 14, 2026 11:21 PM

It probably scared a few people. I can’t have been the only one whose immediate response was to Google “how to switch off emergency alert”.
Piglet

Aug 15, 2026 4:00 AM

I suspect that part of why they did this is so that if anyone’s in court for arson after doing something stupid with a disposable barbecue, there’s absolutely no “I had no idea” argument for the defence.
Ophelia Benson

Aug 15, 2026 6:35 AM

Not quite absolutely no defence surely? Not quite absolutely everyone has a phone and not everyone who has one has it on.
iknklast

Aug 15, 2026 8:07 AM

Not quite absolutely everyone has a phone and not everyone who has one has it on.

Too many people forget that. I don’t, because I am one of those. But I also don’t have a barbecue, and have enough sense not to light fires in a drought.