A compost fire burnt out of control and devastated a village on Britain’s hottest day while the crew from the fire station next door were busy dealing with another blaze five miles away.
Neighbours raised the alarm when they smelt smoke coming from a compost heap in a garden, which had apparently burst into flames after spontaneously combusting.
But the on-duty crews at Wennington Fire Station were on another “shout”, dealing with a fire a few miles away in Upminster, on what would turn out to be the London Fire Brigade’s busiest day since the Second World War, with hundreds of grassfires and other blazes breaking out across much of the outer capital.
That meant a crew from Orpington in Kent, which was nearby and free to respond, had to race to the village of Wennington, just a few miles from the Dartford river crossing and near the town of Rainham, on the eastern edge of London.
This crew arrived at the scene seven minutes after the alarm was raised at 13.06.
But by then what had started as a simple compost fire had taken hold and spread to neighbouring gardens, homes and surrounding fields - creating one of the most terrifying conflagrations the LFB has had to deal with in recent years other than the devastating Grenfell Tower disaster.
'It ran out of control in minutes - it was terrifying'
Victoria Schafer, who was with her boyfriend Alfie Stock and his parents when the fire began, said: “We were just sitting at home relaxing when we smelt smoke. It was from next door’s compost. Alfie and his dad Tim were trying to put it out using a hose from the roof, but it caught so quickly it ran out of control in minutes. It was terrifying.
“We were the first people to call the Fire Brigade and we thought they would come from the village fire station, which is just next to the house where the compost fire started - but they were already out dealing with another fire so they had to send another engine from another station.”
Ms Schafer, 26, who works at Westminster University, said the first engine that arrived appeared to struggle with water pressure, but was quickly joined by several other fire engines, which soon began to pour gallons of water onto the growing flames.
“The firefighters were great. They did everything they could. But the fire spread so fast they just couldn’t control it.”
At one stage, Ms Schafer’s boyfriend found himself stuck in his neighbour’s garden, prevented by the flames from climbing back to his own house. He only managed to escape by climbing over the fence into the Wennington Fire Station’s yard.
'The only other thing I took was my phone'
Meanwhile, the rest of the family, realising their lives were now in danger, grabbed what they could and fled.
“I just left in the dress I was wearing and my garden shoes. The only other thing I took was my phone,” said Ms Schafer. “We all had to run and get out of there straight away. Both our house and our neighbour’s are gone, completely gone. Seeing the aerial pictures is shocking. You can see right through them to the ground floor. The roof has just gone."
At first the family, with dozens of other villagers, headed to St Mary and St Peter's Church, a few hundred yards away and next to the village Green.
“It was cool and shady and there were about 20 other people there who had fled their homes. At first we felt safe, but then the fire, which had been spreading through the fields behind our houses, came right up to the church building and we had to get out,” said Ms Schafer.
Mr Stock, 66, a gravedigger, remains philosophical.
“When they let us back in we’ll start clearing the rubble and then I’ll put a couple of mobile homes on the site. That’ll do us,” he said. "Nobody died, thankfully. That's the main thing and we’re happy to be alive. We’ll sort it out. Life has to go on doesn’t it?”
It took until 9.47pm on Tuesday night for the Wennington fire to be brought under control, with crews from Dagenham, Deptford, Bethnal Green, Woodford, Lee Green, Forest Hill and surrounding fire stations called to the scene. There were no fatalities or injuries reported.
By the end of Tuesday, 90 families had been evacuated from the village and housed in temporary accommodation and hotels. At least nine homes were destroyed, with dozens of other buildings severely damaged.
'It’s absolutely tragic'
John Cruddas, the local Labour MP for Degenham and Rainham, said: “It’s been traumatic. It’s not just bricks and mortar that has been lost, it’s people’s memories built up in family homes over the years. It’s absolutely tragic for them. These sorts of fires are happening more frequently as temperatures rise and we have to be prepared. We have to listen to the experts.”
Across the other side of his constituency, in Dagenham, 14 homes were destroyed by a separate fire, one of at least ten large fires and hundreds of smaller incidents across London which saw more than 100 fire engines deployed.
In total, more than 40 houses and shops were destroyed after a number of significant grass fires spread to nearby buildings, including in Wennington, Dagenham and Kenton.
Fires also engulfed garages, farm buildings, vehicles, outbuildings, a car wash and a church hall. A total of 16 firefighters suffered heat-related injuries, and two of them were taken to hospital.
The LFB’s Assistant Commissioner, Jonathan Smith, said: “Firefighters across London worked in very difficult conditions to protect Londoners and their heroic actions meant no lives were lost.
“Yesterday’s fires are another example of how we are increasingly being challenged by new extremes of weather as our climate changes and we’re developing long-term strategies to deal with more incidents like this in the future.”
