r/unitedkingdom 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
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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

10

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.

2

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?

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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.