Fires burn around London as heatwave sees UK hit 40 degrees for first time

This is no ordinary weather – burning wildfires, melting runways, warped roads and overheated hospitals – this is the reality of the UK’s unprecedented heatwave.

Major incidents have been declared by five fire brigades including London with 10 separate blazes across the capital.

Temperatures above 40 degrees celsius for the first time and records broken in at least 29 sites across England – driven by climate change.

So rapid are the changes that it’s shocked scientific experts.

The mercury hit an all time high at 40.3 in Coningsby in Lincolnshire – a fraction above the earlier high recorded at Heathrow.

This, after the hottest night ever recorded and Scotland also had its hottest ever day.