Sheffield heatwave: Fire service reveals staggering number of 999 calls received as wildfires raged

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby, who has been in the fire service for almost 24 years, said he had never experienced such an 'unprecedented level' of emergency calls before.

On Tuesday, July 19, a major incident was declared due to a spate of fires in South Yorkshire where the mercury hit above 39C in Sheffield and 40C in Doncaster for the first time ever.

Multiple fires simultaneously broke out across South Yorkshire, with homes in Rotherham and Barnsley destroyed, resulting in an overwhelming demand for South Yorkshire's emergency services.

The fire service received more then 2,100 calls, handled at least 1,500 emergency calls and mobilised to 228 incidents across the county during the heatwave.

And Mr Kirby said as the surge in calls ramped up on Tuesday afternoon, their control staff and officers had to prioritise incidents.

He praised staff for everything they did in dealing with the 'unprecedented surge in demand'.

He said: “I have worked within the fire and rescue service for almost 24 years and I cannot recall such an unprecedented level of demand, in such difficult conditions. As the surge in calls ramped up on Tuesday afternoon, our control staff and officers had to prioritise incidents.

“On occasion, we had to leave fires burning that were not affecting life or property to attend other, more serious incidents.

“Normally, we'd request support regionally or nationally but the difference yesterday was almost every fire service was experiencing the same.

“If the record breaking temperatures we saw across the UK yesterday are a sign of things to come and we experience days like yesterday more and more, then the whole sector needs to be better equipped to deal with such extreme levels of demand.”

He added: “I want to pay tribute to and pass on thanks to firefighters, officers and control staff who dealt with an unprecedented surge in demand for our services.”

Temperatures have now dropped in South Yorkshire and the major incident has now been declared over.