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The Wennington wildfire was a wildfire that took place in Wennington, east London, on 19 July 2022 during the 2022 United Kingdom heatwave. Sixteen homes were destroyed.

The wildfire took place on the hottest day in recorded British history, and has been described as an indication of the future effects of global warming in the UK, a country in which wildfires have historically been rare and mostly seen on isolated grassland and moorland areas rather than in urban areas.

Background
Wennington is a village in the east of London, on the edge of the built up area. The village has an east-west main road, the B1335 Wennington road. The row of houses on the south side of the road burned down in the fire. To the south is an area of grassy fields, with a railway line to the south of it. There is a fire station in the village.

People in the UK generally have little experience of UK wildfires, and are more likely to have knowledge of them happening abroad. Wildfires are a known risk in the UK, however they are most associated with moorland and heathland areas, rather than destroying houses, although many do occur close to built-up areas. Larger UK wildfires especially tend to occur in more remote areas.

19 July 2022 was predicted in advance to be extremely hot, with advance predictions that it would break temperature records. Stephen Belcher, Chief Scientist to the Met Office, said the temperatures reached were "virtually impossible" to achieve without global warming. The day followed a long period of drought which had left grass and soil very dry, making it easier for a wildfire to spread.

Events
The parish church, a listed building, survived although the graveyard caught fire.

Resident Claire Taylor said her house burned down within "two minutes".

Two firefighters were hospitalised and sixteen suffered heat-related injuries.

Aftermath
Andy Roe, head of the London Fire Brigade, described the events as "unprecedented": "I saw stuff this week that I had not expected to see as a London firefighter." Guillermo Rein, Professor of Fire Sciences at Imperial College London, said that "the UK will start to see fires which are much larger".

Following the summer 2022 wildfires, there were public calls for a ban on disposable barbecues, which Roe supported. The government declined to introduce a ban, although several large retailers voluntarily removed them from stock.