The UK’s fire chiefs are warning that larger, more complex wildfires like those seen in southern Europe are becoming more likely here.

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2025 marked the worst on record for wildfires, with numbers for 2026 not far behind. In Suffolk, a 370-acre fire miles from the Sizewell nuclear power station resulted in hundreds of people being evacuated. Large moorland fires near Manchester raised toxic particulates in the city’s air to dangerous levels. In the last two weeks of July alone, fire services responded to over 200 separate wildfires.

As the climate changes with extremes of weather more likely, the risk of flooding has also increased. July 2021 brought severe floods across northern Europe, and flash flooding in London, with tube lines and hospitals closed and residents evacuated.

Since 1910, there have been 17 record-breaking months of rainfall, with 9 of these since 2000, and the number of people at risk potentially doubling by 2050. Fire and rescue services remain on the frontline for these incidents, with the number of calls steadily increasing.

A further growing risk to communities is the threat from hostile states to the UK’s critical national infrastructure. The government says there is the possibility of the “UK homeland........

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