UK heatwave: Fire crews from Newcastle and Liverpool sent to Norfolk amid thousands of 999 calls

  • Watch drone footage from Pink Spitfire Photography of the Ashill fire

Firefighters were drafted in from hundreds of miles away to help colleagues in other parts of the country as they battled call outs on a scale described as "unprecedented".

Crews from Newcastle, Liverpool, Avon and Shropshire all joined the fight to save homes in Norfolk as the county's fire service field more than 4,600 calls on the hottest day on record.

Eleven homes were destroyed in one fire alone at Ashill in the county, but with families still not able to return to other properties, that total could climb.

It came during the hottest day ever recorded in the UK with temperatures reaching more than 40C.

Crews from across the country, like these from Tyne & Wear, were drafted in to help Credit: ITV Anglia

Greg Preston, area manager for Norfolk Fire and Rescue Servie spent the night co-ordinating the efforts at Ashill and said: "It was a really very rapidly developing fire because of the heat.

He added: “It’s unusual for a fire in a field to spread to properties this quick. It’s been a really difficult few days for us."

48-year-old John Horn, his wife Donna, 35 and their two children Sophie, 10 and Katie, 8, only just got out of their house in time Credit: ITV Anglia

John Horn, 48, his wife Donna, 35 and their two children Sophie, 10 and Katie, eight, only just got out of their house in time and will now need to find alternative accommodation for up to a year.

Mrs Horn said: "I could just see it out of the bedroom window getting closer and closer - it was just a case of grab what you can and run. It was just knowing the kids were out safe, that was my priority, nothing else mattered."

Mr Horn added: "There were gas canisters going off. It was a bit like out of Armageddon the way it went up and it's catastrophic what has happened to everybody."

  • Watch our report from Rob Setchell

Tim Edwards, Norfolk's chief fire officer, said: “On Tuesday alone, the service control room received 4,688 calls and we attended 280 incidents, an unprecedented level of demand."

Andrew Jamieson, chair of Norfolk Coast Partnership, said: “The fires have damaged large swathes of the Norfolk Coast area of outstanding natural beauty, much of it rare habitat.

"This type of event shows how we all need to speed up our efforts against climate change.”

Homes were also destroyed at Ashmanhaugh, while acres of previous coastal parkland was torched at Wild Ken Hill, site of the BBC's Springwatch programme.

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