Major wildfire rages as mercury hits 34C

HERO fire crews battled flames burning across the Yorkshire Moors as parts of the country sweltered in 34C heat.

- By Chris Riches

Emergency service bosses declared a major incident as the blaze, first spotted on Tuesday morning at Langdale Moor near the RAF Fylingdales early warning station, continued devouring the North York Moors National Park.

By yesterday afternoon, it had spread across nearly two square miles and more fire engines were sent to support the 20 pumps at the scene. York and North Yorkshire mayor David Skaith and policing, fire and crime deputy mayor Jo Coles, said of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s major incident alert for Langdale Moor: “We encourage the public to avoid the area and follow the latest advice from the fire service.

“We want to thank the firefighters, emergency service workers and partner agencies for their response to this incident.”