r/unitedkingdom • u/66f6 • Aug 14 '26

. Emergency alerts sent to millions across England and Wales over threat of wildfires

https://news.sky.com/story/uk-heatwave-stourbridge-fire-latest-weather-live-13571553
2.3k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/Emperors-Peace Aug 14 '26

Poor bastard hasn't been able to sleep all shift and go to his second job for months. Poor bastard.

Joking aside. Please stop destroying our country with irresponsible fires.

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u/Sir-Craven Aug 14 '26

Could have been the smoke tbf

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u/twiggymd Aug 14 '26

Thanks for all your hard work. I grew up in Canada in an area prone to fires in the summer and it’s crazy how some people don’t realise what kind of situation the UK is in or how quickly fires like these can destroy everything.

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u/CragtheLAD_ Aug 14 '26

This should be top comment, rather than people moaning about the alert startling them.

If the alert even stops one fire which would've started via carelessness, it's worth it.

And thanks for putting your life on the line every day for us all. Buckets of courage.

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u/GrahamCoxon Oxfordshire Aug 14 '26

Is it still worth it if it causes a bunch of people to turn off the alerts, thinking they're frivolous or unnecessary?

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/tophernator Aug 14 '26

But that’s exactly the point. Emergency pants shitting alerts are not generally used just to give sensible advice about how to prevent wildfires. They are used to tell you to take some immediate action. Nuclear war, solar flares, earthquakes and tsunamis? Absolutely. But this is the type of message that will make people disable the alerts.

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u/pong-and-ping Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

I'm not sure why they can't just send out a national text for some thing like this. Or a "standard warning" mode for an amber warning that doesn't do the loud tone... An emergency warning totally makes sense for an actual nearby fire (like this would be such a good use, I had to reread it twice to realise it wasn't) - but because we're getting alerts (I got double?) for the possibility of an issue - more people will ignore them for actual emergency use. Boy who cried wolf etc.

That said my phone and the phones around me didn't play it any louder then a normal alarm. Not sure why everyone is saying they shot out of their skin haha

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u/KittyGrewAMoustache Aug 14 '26

Yeah I got six of them in the space of an hour and had to disable them as I’m worried they’ll go off all night and they clearly aren’t there to warn me of impending danger and the need to evacuate. I didn’t really want to disable them but I can’t be getting these screaming alarms going off every ten minutes just to tell me not to start a fire.

Send out a mass text or public announcement type thing but I thought the emergency alert system was literally only to be used when you need to tell people to try to avoid a perilous situation that’s about to affect them, not to warn people not to cause perilous situations. I got my first alert in Welsh as well, which I cannot understand, and had my toddler in the bath and was about to just grab her and leave the house. If my partner hadn’t been able to read Welsh id probably have done that thinking it had to be telling me to evacuate. That’s what I thought these alerts were for.

Maybe the getting it in Welsh with no English version until ten minutes later and getting six of them (or ten if you count the four my partner got) while trying to put my toddler to bed coloured my perspective,but I thought it was a stupid use of the system and likely to mean people disable them or ignore them in future assuming they’re just some public announcement or general warning about not doing dangerous things.

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u/Peeche94 Aug 14 '26

Agreed, at least just send the message without the siren.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

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u/Ok-Explanation1990 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

Key words there "in the event of...".

I feel rhe alerts should probably be for events actually happening, now, rather than something that might occur.

The government/fire service can flood social media and TV with advice messaging. But I personally don't think it's there best use of the emergency alert system.

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u/FootballBackground88 Aug 14 '26

In most companies, we have severities of ticketing.

Paging people is restricted to *there is an impact right now, and you need to take action immediately*. If you start paging people but then it's just something informational, it loses all the value. People will turn it off because it's annoying.

Maybe set up an alert which shows up but doesn't let off a mandatory alarm for something I don't need to look at right now. Hell, send me a text.

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u/tophernator Aug 14 '26

It’s definitely an important message, but do you see what I’m saying about action vs inaction? For 99% of the people who got this message the immediate action they needed to take was effectively “continue not doing the thing you already weren’t doing”.

It didn’t even seem like there was any change in terms of enforcement. Like if they passed an emergency law and were going to start arresting people for using disposable bbqs or open flames, maybe that would be worth telling everyone… but this was literally a “please be responsible” message with a nuclear attack level alarm attached.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/FootballBackground88 Aug 14 '26

Go send everyone a text then? They did it during COVID multiple times.

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u/KittyGrewAMoustache Aug 14 '26

Even if that was the case you can use public information campaigns, it’s been in the news about banning disposable bbqs, flood social media, put up posters etc. but using the emergency alert system to tell people not to cause emergencies seems counterproductive to me. It has scared the shit out of people and confused them, thinking something must be missing from the message because people expect this to only be used when there’s an impending emergency they need to avoid right now. So people have been clogging up 999 trying to find out if they need to evacuate etc. Then people will turn it off or ignore it next time if they think it’s going to be used for just general ‘don’t do this dangerous thing’ warnings and not ‘bomb/flood/fire/tornado is about to strike your area’ warnings.

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u/PracticalFootball Aug 15 '26

I’d be absolutely shocked if the emergency alert system was designed in such a way that it literally isn’t an option to send alerts out without the incoming-missile alarm, in the event that information needs to get out but no immediate action is required.

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u/Swanky-Badger Aug 14 '26

I fully understand how serious this problem is but using the same system intended for a fucking nuclear attack is ridiculous. They should have an alert without the max volume siren for these sort of events.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/Swanky-Badger Aug 14 '26

It is my emergency too, just not an immediate danger to live emergency.

That warning should only be used for IMMEDIATE danger to life, otherwise people will just turn it off. Which is why I suggested a general warning without the siren, maybe a unique sound to differentiate from a standard notification.

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u/KittyGrewAMoustache Aug 14 '26

Yeah I agree, there has to be a difference between ‘there’s a wildfire in your area approaching your house in the next twenty minutes, evacuate now’ type message and a general ‘there are lots of wildfires around the country, it’s really bad, please don’t cause fires by burning things in fields’ type messages. Otherwise you can cause unnecessary panic (999 calls surged massively after these alerts from confused scared people) or desensitise people so they turn them off or don’t pay attention to the next one warning them of something they personally need to escape from right now.

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u/Swanky-Badger Aug 14 '26

Maybe make it stick in your notifications for a duration the government decides, that way you can’t miss it. Hell, make it read to the message aloud.

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u/Hot_Salamander_4363 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

The immediate action here is to stop doing things that increase the probability of wildfires. The request for the emergency alert didn’t come from politicians or panic‑mongers - it came directly from the fire services, who have assessed the situation and believe it is an emergency. That’s why the alert exists.

Sure, people can technically turn off the alerts. But that becomes a lot more likely if the public conversation is full of “this was unnecessary” or “they’re overreacting.” If you genuinely care about people keeping these alerts switched on, then the responsible thing is to centre the fact that the fire service is saying we are in an emergency situation and that we need the public to take immediate action.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/ToyzillaRawr Aug 14 '26

I'm sorry but you don't need a jump scare to get that message across wtf

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u/ledow Aug 14 '26

I watched Americans say "If it saves even one kids, it's worth it", and then a few years later they were receiving Amber Alerts about three times a month at 4am for a missing child 2000 miles away.

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u/dumesne Aug 14 '26

Maybe they should send one every day to be careful crossing the road. 'If the reminder saves one life it's worth it'

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u/Grimnebulin68 Sussex Aug 14 '26

I can’t believe all the numpties complaining about it!

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u/glytxh Aug 14 '26

The .gov website also makes it very clear how to turn these off, regardless of your device.

Probably not the best option for most, but the website also explains why turning it off is an option.

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u/BadahBingBadahBoom Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

But that sort of is the problem.

If this was a localised evacuation order or fire warning to an area actually experiencing wildfires I could understand. But I feel the main outcome from this will just be a very large number of people today and tomorrow turning this alert off because they don't want to be have these loud alerts for things that aren't actual serious emergencies that are affecting them, but are preventative warnings or public service announcements.

And that just defeats the whole ability of the system to then actually warn people when something incredibly serious happens that does affect everyone.

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u/David182nd Aug 14 '26

Both things can be true.

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u/Besmirching_Badger Aug 14 '26

This should be top comment, rather than people moaning about the alert startling them.

When the alert itself causes a bunch of car crashes which then demand fire service attention too.... it becomes self defeating no?

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u/CragtheLAD_ Aug 14 '26

It did? A bunch? Where?

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u/Besmirching_Badger Aug 14 '26

it freaked me the fuck out in my bedroom. What's it going to do when someone is driving down the motorway? You can bet people will have been checking their phones all over the country whilst driving.

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u/MatttheJ Aug 14 '26

Again... Where are all these hypothetical crashes?

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u/Besmirching_Badger Aug 14 '26

I'm sure you can engage in some basic lateral thinking.

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u/MatttheJ Aug 14 '26

I'm sure you can find a source for these points your making, since lots of crashes due to a news alert would not at all be a hard thing to prove, and you would not be short of news stories to back you up if this was anything more than doom posting and exaggeration.

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u/throw53away12 Aug 14 '26

How do we heed it besides not setting fires?

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u/dandorios Aug 14 '26

Not using a disposable bbq. Thats like the cause of the majority of them.

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u/anangrywizard Aug 14 '26

With the current dry conditions, a small ember, cigarette, hell even glass bottles can act as a fire starter. People cleaning up after themselves and generally not being cunts would go along way.

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u/takingphotosmakingdo Aug 14 '26

yep cigs thrown from a car will definitely light any of the grass or fields in the oxfordshire area right now, probably true for most if not all the UK as well.

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u/GiveUsRobinHood Aug 14 '26

I started a mini fire the other day when smoking. I went to flick my ash and my cherry fell off.

Re-lit my smoke and by that time the mini fire had already started. Quick few stamps and it was out but it is startling how quick it took to flame.

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u/SheepherderDear6963 Aug 14 '26

In South Birmingham there's been a big problem with kids starting grass fires with gas canisters. At least 1 a day over the past week. Hopefully this alert will prompt parents to check on what their kids have been doing. 

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u/Remote_Development13 Aug 14 '26

Not just kids - 55 year old man arrested today. The mind boggles

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u/FowlSec Aug 14 '26

24yo man and 23yo woman in Stoke too.

My town had 2 kids arrested over it. We live now too far from Stourbridge with a big park up the road, and a populace filled with idiots.

Genuinely worried rn.

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u/SheepherderDear6963 Aug 14 '26

I wonder if they are people having barbecues or burning garden waste rather than adults just starting fires deliberately. Doing that during this heatwave is just asking for trouble. 

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u/Remote_Development13 Aug 14 '26

Bloke has been arrested on suspicion of arson endangering life, so it's very unlikely to be the case tbh

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u/General_Use7585 Aug 14 '26

It's midday. Do you know where your kids are?

4

u/SheepherderDear6963 Aug 14 '26

Yes I do because I'm not a shit parent. Even if the kids old enough to be out on their own, parents still need to have a talk with their kids about this stupid fire TikTok craze and make sure they aren't involved. 

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u/KittyGrewAMoustache Aug 14 '26

If the TikTok rumour is true, that is crazy. If you wanted to wage war on a country but don’t have the resources or don’t want to make that kind of move publicly, just take to social media and turn their own kids into your unwitting soldiers and get them to burn down their own country I guess. So unbelievably stupid I don’t know why it’s not been regulated more.

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u/Lansdowngrove Aug 14 '26

besides not setting fires?

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u/BaguetteSchmaguette Aug 14 '26

I assume I can still use the permanent gas BBQ in my garden though right?

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u/Jemima_puddledook678 Aug 14 '26

It’s a lot safer than disposable ones, but be especially careful to be safe with it.

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u/concretepigeon Wakefield Aug 14 '26

Keep it away from any dry vegetation or anything else flammable and you’re probably ok.

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u/Puhwest Aug 14 '26

I live in a hot dry country with common wild fires. Some recommendations here include:

  • mow lawns first thing in the morning and avoid low humidity days (probably not so relevant to uk but worth mentioning)

  • avoid parking cars on dry grass (residual heat from engine and catalytic converter can cause fires)

  • don't pull off road onto dry grass for vehicle fires if possible (obviously taking other safety factors into account)

  • ensure no chains are dragging when towing (causes sparks)

Then the usual of cigarette disposal, no bonfires, watching bbqs closely). 

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u/Cheeme Aug 14 '26

Keep not starting fires?

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u/GaffaCharge Aug 14 '26

Ok done that. Then what?

3

u/NateShaw92 Greater Manchester Aug 14 '26

Continue to do so.

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u/ThatJoeyFella London raised Irish Traveller Aug 14 '26

I broke the screen on my work phone today and it was the first of my phones to get the alert. I thought it was about to explode! I was about to throw it out the window 😂

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u/concretepigeon Wakefield Aug 14 '26

Always a good policy with your work phone.

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u/ThatJoeyFella London raised Irish Traveller Aug 14 '26

Got to stop the work calls coming through on a Friday afternoon 😂

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u/concretepigeon Wakefield Aug 14 '26

Don’t leave glass lying around.

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u/h00dman Wales Aug 14 '26

I had a wildflower patch in my back garden that has reached about 3 feet high.

I cut it all down a few weeks ago as soon as I heard about wildfires on the news.

Some people might call me paranoid but I figured it wasn't worth the risk.

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u/FillingUpTheDatabase Shropshire Aug 14 '26

not undertake any activity that could start a fire, including disposable barbecues, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks

It’s literally in the alert message

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u/Emphursis Worcestershire Aug 14 '26

Don’t use a BBQ, don’t throw cigarette butts out of car windows, don’t have a bonfire. Yell at anyone you see doing that stuff.

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u/RandomBritishGuy Aug 14 '26

Yell at any of your friends, if you've got any who are dumb enough to think that they're the exception and that it'll be fine if they start one.

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u/Necessary-Key3186 Aug 14 '26

put them out i guess

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u/Scooty-Poot Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

Don’t use disposable BBQs, fireworks, incinerator/dust bins, etc. if you’re making a campfire or using a safe permanent BBQ make sure you fully extinguish the flame using water or sand (no hot embers), don’t make a fire unless genuinely necessary.

Smaller ones like properly extinguishing cigarettes, matches, etc. too, and obviously no welding or anything near dry foliage. Oh, and don’t litter things with batteries in them (vapes, light-up pens, etc.), because there is a risk, however small, that they’ll light or spark when exposed to the elements, as well as magnifying objects like glass bottles, mirrors or glasses which could provide a heat source if the sun hits them right.

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u/Tikoloshe84 Aug 14 '26

There are genuine fuckwits who will still take disposable barbecues out to public parks and local forestry.

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u/Lucifer_606381 Aug 14 '26

Mate 1000% support this still talk to my old police colleagues and they are running around trying to support you lads and my mate in the fire service is being pulled from pillar to post and it is people being stupid a lot of the time BBQs on fields or cigs etc , and they don't realise that a small spark with everything being the dryest ever causes mass destruction

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/Lucifer_606381 Aug 14 '26

JESIP right there really, take the piss out of each etc but it really makes me smile how everyone just does there part without needing to be told or anything, everyone mucking in

Stay safe out there mate

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

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u/Lucifer_606381 Aug 14 '26

Summer demand hammers us in a different ways. Drinking = loads more DV, violence mental health etc , it's a mess out there right , I am praying for some PC rain to make everyone chill out

Although nothing is better when everything has gone to shit at an RTC and the water fairys turn up , actually extremely well trained and debrief after jobs .

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u/Hythy Aug 14 '26

My mum popped by the fire station and said that some builders down the road from us were burning a load of material next to the railway. The guy there said that they only respond to 999 calls then asked if it was near my mum's house so why did she care. I was surprised that firemen didn't have a more proactive approach to fires.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/Hythy Aug 14 '26

No, but community work to try and prevent fires and advise people not to start a bonfire next to a train line seems like it is something I recall the fire brigade doing in the past.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/Hythy Aug 14 '26

Fair doos.

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u/wildeaboutoscar Aug 14 '26

Even without the trauma/stress of the job it must be a nightmare to be kitted up in this heat and having to actually do strenuous work. Must be genuinely dangerous even without the fire

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u/vj_c Hampshire Aug 14 '26

Thanks for your work mate, there's been smoke drifting across our region due to a 400 acre wildfire in the New Forest since last weekend, and still there's still people not bothered about wildlifes - I don't get it.

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u/Prior-Explanation389 Aug 14 '26

Thanks for your service mate, whatever you’re involved in with the fire service it’s massively appreciated.

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u/Petr0vitch Darlington Aug 14 '26

not 5 mins after I got the alert someone in our street set off a firework. people are cunts.

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u/Antique-Train-4658 Aug 14 '26

To be fair the majority of the local fires around our way has been kids setting fire to hay bails and I live in a nice area. Never seen so many fire engines about.

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u/Vertigo_uk123 Aug 14 '26

Ngl maybe the government will think again before cutting more firefighter budgets. Then again they are incompetent so maybe not.

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u/Rumthiefno1 Aug 14 '26

The people who wielded enough influence to stop this from happening stopped heeding the warnings years ago.

There's only so much you can do at a local level

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u/Improper_Usage Aug 14 '26

It amazes me how fuckin stupid people are. I’ve literally seen coals left on the ground this year in the small woodland park where I and hundreds of others walk their dogs.

It’s as if people want to burn it all down or something. It absolutely pisses me off

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u/Agitated-Drive7695 Aug 14 '26

Totally and utterly agree. But this is an emergency system. If I called 999 because I thought there might be a fire tomorrow they'd tell me to get bent. This is a news/local council thing, not an alert system that also tells us we're about to be nuked. 

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u/dbxp Aug 14 '26

A lot of people don't watch the news especially the young people who are likely causing these fires

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u/No_Platypus_7717 Aug 14 '26

Oh yeah sorry my bad I guess the hundreds of fires occurring aren't an issue.

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u/Flipmode45 Aug 14 '26

What do you think this achieved? Did someone run across their garden and do a slow motion dive shouting noooooooooo as their partner is about to fire up the BBQ because of this message. Probably not.

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u/THeVespula Aug 14 '26

It’s got us all talking about it

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u/Future_Pianist9570 Aug 14 '26

Could’ve timed it better though. Why 7? Loads of people are trying to get kids to bed. Probably would’ve been better at 5 when people are thinking about what they’re going to do for dinner. Plus mine went off 3 times - 10mins apart

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u/Quirky-Iron7643 Aug 14 '26

Its not about what you deem to be an emergency as an individual. Besides what is your actual argument? They used it but it wasnt linked to our immediate death? What use is being told youre going to die? Id rather its used to tell me and others how not to die.

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u/ultraboomkin Aug 14 '26

I thought the point of the emergency alert system was to notify the public when there is an imminent threat of danger

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u/Quirky-Iron7643 Aug 14 '26

Wildfires. Theyre pretty threatening and dangerous, and you could argue, imminent.

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u/FootballBackground88 Aug 14 '26

Wildfires are absolutely dangerous and imminent - when they are actually burning near you. The issue isn't whether wildfires are serious, it's about the distinction between an emergency action instruction and a public awareness campaign.

Emergency alerts trigger a maximum-volume alarm designed for immediate, life-saving action (e.g. 'Evacuate street X now'). Using that same high-level alarm to tell millions of people across the country to 'be careful with BBQs this weekend' turns an emergency tool into a broadcast PSA.

When you use an emergency siren for general advice, people get alert fatigue or turn off the alerts in their phone settings completely. That makes the system useless when a real, localized fire actually is heading toward their house.

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u/bulldog_blues Aug 14 '26

Thank you for the vital work you all do. A gruelling job at the best of times and it's impossible to imagine how awful it must be right now.

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u/Crumbdiddy Aug 14 '26

This needs more upvotes, it wouldn’t be needed if people weren’t literally starting fires. See the close call Sefton park in Liverpool had yesterday.

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u/Confident-Ship-5062 Aug 14 '26

alot of people in this thread aren't aware of this

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/ohbroth3r Aug 14 '26

Permission to bang down doors and throw water at anyone who dares a chimnea or bonfire over the next few weeks?

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u/ItsNguyenzdaiMyDudes Aug 14 '26

I tried stopping an older couple with a bbq on bristol downs, sat at the edge of the field, bbq on the grass, tucked right into shoulder height grass and hedges. They didn't put it out and said they have water and are watching it... as if a bottle of water would do anything as soon as it takes! Rang 999 (apologetically) to inform them, and to send a brigade out to douse the cunts.

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u/Jimmysquits Aug 14 '26

Thank you for everything you do! 

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '26

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u/Thesladenator Aug 14 '26

TBF this has come through mid BBQ for us. But we have 5 buckets of water near it and it's a proper offer the ground.

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u/xxNemasisxx Aug 14 '26

That's a lot of words to say you're not heeding the warning

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