Up next in 10
Wildfires spread across the West Midlands, homes were destroyed, and emergency services were stretched to the limit. As Britain is facing one of its most dramatic wildfire outbreaks in years, a bigger question emerges: where is the Prime Minister?
This discussion looks at the Stourbridge fires, the pressure on firefighters, and whether the government is treating climate-related emergencies with the urgency they require.
00:00 | Simon Marks is joined by George Icke, LBC's Midlands reporter who joins us from Stourbridge
05:01 | Simon looks at the government reaction and Ed Miliband's post on social media
07:34 | Former leader of the Green Party - who is now a Professor of Practice in Environmental Sustainability at the University of Sussex - Caroline Lucas calls for action
11:54 | James MacCleary, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, reacts to the train derailment in East Sussex and how this is connected to climate change
14:38 | Rose powerful call closes the conversation.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
There is a massive response by the West Midlands Fire Service
0:04
to combat a growing blaze in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. It started out as a grass fire near a golf course
0:12
but in the intense heat today, it spread and started burning through at least six houses
0:19
Aerial footage from the scene shows smoke and flames billowing into the sky
0:25
We're going to begin by crossing live to LBC's Midlands reporter, George Icke who joins us from the scene there in Stourbridge and George this is obviously a very
0:36
serious set of developments. What is the latest that you're hearing there? Good evening
0:42
Good evening Simon. Well essentially large swathes of the West Midlands are on fire tonight. A number
0:46
of fires burning within the area of West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service including this one here
0:52
in Stourbridge. We also have a fire by the M6, a number of other fires and just across the border
0:57
in Warwickshire, a major incident declared for yet another wildfire there, as you say
1:03
on the hottest day of the year so far. To bring you up to speed on what's happening here
1:07
this was a grass fire that began at around half past one today. Firefighters have been
1:12
tackling that ever since. And the presence here is enormous. A nauseating smell of smoke
1:17
billowing through the air, Simon, and ash falling just about everywhere. My car is covered in ash
1:24
at the moment. I've seen some pictures that have been shared amongst locals on WhatsApp that show
1:28
homes that have been completely burnt out, windows smashed, doors completely burnt through. That gives
1:35
you an idea of just how bad it is here. That's burnt part of a golf club, a number of houses
1:40
and the real problem that firefighters are facing is the wind. It's not been windy for the last few
1:45
days. Today, the wind is really strong and it keeps changing direction, pushing that fire and
1:50
pushing that smoke with it. I'm joined now, Simon, by Joe, who lives in Stourbridge. Joe
1:56
good evening. This is a huge fire, isn't it? That smoke's everywhere. Yeah, it was massive, to be fair. I live just across the way down the road. And even when it
2:06
first started, I could see the smoke coming over from the field. So yeah, it was huge
2:10
And all of these fire engines as well, people being evacuated, it's been a huge response
2:14
hasn't it? Oh, yeah, very, very big response. When it first went off, I went up the road just
2:19
to see what was going on. And that was just short of, I'd say, about 30 fire engines
2:24
And that was only about 15 minutes after I first smelt the smoke and saw the smoke. So, yeah
2:28
a massive response. And what about your house and friends' houses? What's the picture like
2:33
there at the moment? Yeah, so my house, thankfully, is OK. There's a lot of smoke over there and a lot
2:38
of debris from the fire. But I have a few friends who live in the close proximity to where the fire
2:44
started. And a lot of them have been evacuated from their homes, unfortunately. We've heard a
2:48
lot of bangs as well throughout the afternoon as the fires spread have you heard anything about
2:52
what that might have been i'm not sure what it what it's down to i've definitely heard them and
2:57
when i went to check out what was going on um it was it was very loud it was very very loud there
3:02
was a lot of bangs uh a lot of crashes as well so yeah i'm not i'm not sure what the what the
3:06
cause is but i've definitely heard them okay well simon i've been to a number of fires as temperatures
3:11
have soared so far this year this is by far the worst and by far the largest we've got resources
3:17
from right across the Midlands being called in to help here. We've got Staffordshire Police helping man this cordon
3:22
because it's so big that they need more bodies on the ground. We've seen plainclothes detectives who would normally be working in roles
3:29
like in the drug team and the knife crime team being brought in to man the cordon
3:33
That is giving you a picture of just how serious the situation is here in Stourbridge
3:38
Let's cross the border into Warwickshire for a moment and touch on that fire as well
3:42
That's been declared a major incident. began around 2.30 this afternoon in Stratford-on-Avon at Salford Priors
3:49
It was a wildfire that had spread to nearby outbuildings. Currently, a large number of appliances working to put that fire out
3:56
But the challenge with all of these fires is, Simon, that it's not just one big fire
4:00
Here in Stourbridge, from the aerial images I've seen and I'm sure you've seen in the studio
4:04
it's lots of pockets of fire in quite a large area. And that is going to be the problem moving forward
4:10
is how they can tackle all of those at the same time. And George, when I look at the aerial images that we've seen from the fire that you're covering
4:18
there in Stourbridge, it does seem as though some of those houses were absolutely fully engulfed
4:25
I mean, I presume that there are families tonight that have lost their homes there
4:30
Yeah absolutely Simon We had people whose parents live just a couple of streets down from them and they evacuated their house and then come to help their parents evacuate their house It is your absolute worst nightmare It been described by some people as like living in a horror film
4:44
And actually, if you look on the LBC app, there's quite a striking picture of a firefighter and a police officer walking out of the smoke, ash falling around them
4:53
carrying bottles of water because the water pressure is so low here in Stourbridge at the
4:58
moment because all of the water is needed to try and put these fires out. Now we can probably avert
5:03
some wildfires that way there's no question about that and that's a good thing but the more that
5:09
this day has played out the more I think you can argue that no Prime Minister has ever been better
5:16
positioned coming into office as a result of the weather to lead a national conversation on climate
5:23
change and tell us what the plan is going to be. But so far from Andy Burnham on that issue
5:30
we have heard crickets. However, an hour ago, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, the former Energy
5:38
Secretary in Zakir Starmer's cabinet, published a video on his social media feed. It begins
5:44
with a series of images of the climate change impacts that we have all witnessed this year
5:51
This isn't normal. Or this. Or this. These heatwaves are sending us a message. We can all agree
5:59
that national security is the first responsibility of any government. And the climate crisis is now a
6:04
serious national security threat to the British people. Heatwaves, wildfires, droughts are all
6:10
going to become more common. But the good news is we can act. As Foreign Secretary, I will work
6:15
with countries around the world to build a coalition for action. At the United Nations in
6:20
September, I'll be bringing together foreign ministers to discuss how we respond to this new
6:25
national security threat. And when countries work together, we can bring down emissions
6:29
slow temperature rises, and help people adapt to the warming world. I feel this so deeply
6:35
We owe it to future generations to act. Our planet is sending us a warning signal and we are going to listen
6:44
Why are we hearing that from Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and not the Prime Minister
6:49
What do you want the government to do about climate change and how quickly
6:54
He says it's a national security threat. Do you agree and do you think the Prime Minister agrees
7:00
call me at 0345 6060 973 you can text 84850 i'm joined on the program this evening by caroline
7:09
lucas former leader of the green party now a professor of practice in environmental sustainability
7:15
at the university of sussex caroline lucas thank you so much for being with us on lbc this evening
7:21
i know that like myself you also were somewhat surprised that nothing more came out of that
7:27
Cobra meeting yesterday than the urging of the Prime Minister for all of us not to go out and
7:34
buy or to sell to people portable barbecues. It's got to be time for him to move faster and further
7:42
than that, surely. Good evening. Good evening and thank you. Yes, to say that I was surprised
7:47
I think is probably putting it very mildly. I was horrified, frankly, that a Cobra meeting
7:53
These are the meetings that happen when there is supposed to be an emergency response from government
7:59
But a COBRA meeting chaired by the Prime Minister himself at this moment of absolute critical importance
8:06
when the country has three quarters of England in drought, wildfires raging, as we've just been hearing
8:12
farmers warning us we've got the worst food security crisis in decades
8:16
It frankly beggars belief that the principal response from that COBRA meeting was nothing more than this polite request to consider withdrawing disposable barbecues
8:26
You rightly say that we need a national conversation. And I'm so glad that Ed Miliband has made the intervention that he has
8:34
Well, let's hope that Andy Burnham is listening because his silence on this issue is deafening in a sense
8:41
It is absolutely remarkable that at this very moment, when, as Ed Miliband himself says, nature is sending us the loudest possible message, we have a prime minister who now seems to have gone AWOL when it comes to responding to this climate emergency
8:58
What I would love to see him do is to pick up this idea of an emergency briefing
9:04
There a big initiative out there you might have heard of it called the National Emergency Briefing What they are calling for is for the Prime Minister himself to host a briefing for the whole country on national
9:15
television that would make sure that all of us understand the nature of the threats that we face
9:21
because it also beggars belief that at this very moment, we also have a Conservative Party saying
9:27
that no new Conservative candidates can put themselves forward at the next general election
9:32
if they support action on the climate. This is preposterous. This is madness
9:38
We have to make sure that everyone, including parties of the right
9:42
understand the scale of the nature, the scale and nature of the threat we face. With regard to the prime minister
9:47
what do you say to those listeners? And we had several last night, and I suspect we'll have more again tonight
9:52
who say, give him a chance. He's only in his fourth week
9:57
Well, he's had a chance already to do things like take action on bus fares
10:02
that's a proposal that I support, but it's something that he found time to do. He's found time
10:07
to talk about vertical drinking, hasn't he, in pubs that we should be able to sit down while we
10:14
have our pint in our pubs. So he seems to have been able to make time to make a raft of other
10:20
announcements. And I think his silence on this issue is really unforgivable right now. What we
10:26
needed to come out of that COBRA meeting, which has around the table all of the key players when
10:31
it comes to keeping our country safe, at the very least, we should have had things like
10:36
how do we make sure that our fire service has all the resources that it needs? How is it that the UK
10:41
doesn't have a single so-called water bomber for aerial firefighting? We've had firefighters saying
10:47
that they don't feel that they've got the right clothing or equipment. We've just heard about this
10:53
terrible fire in Stourbridge. We know that we need to change our firefighting methods to deal
11:01
with the kinds of fires we're facing today. There was already a fire in London a couple of years ago
11:07
where on that day, the 19th of July 2022, every single fire engine in London was used because it
11:14
was being required by different fires around the capital. What have we learned since then
11:20
How do we make sure that the water pressure doesn't go down as it did in London back in 2022
11:25
and as it sounds like it might have been happening in Starbridge today? There is so much that could
11:31
be done to keep us safer. And that starts with some far more far reaching practical measures
11:36
from this Prime Minister, as well as taking action when it comes to briefing the country
11:41
on the nature of the climate crisis and urgently, urgently ruling out yet more drilling in the
11:48
North Sea. If he doesn't rule that out, essentially he is himself pouring petrol on the fire
11:55
One thing we do know is that the emergency services had to respond to this incident
12:00
in the middle of an oppressive heatwave, and that in and of itself sends us a message
12:06
And, of course, the passengers had to endure the entire incident and then the rescue and recovery of them
12:13
in the middle of an oppressive heatwave. Absolutely. And, look, you don't have to go far down our way
12:20
You can see the South Downs are brown and dry and look like a tinderbox
12:25
It's had a huge impact, this latest heatwave, as are the impacts more widely of climate change, which we seem to woefully underprepared for
12:34
The French authorities recently announced they were going to start replacing tracks to withstand heat up to 50 degrees
12:41
We've done little in this country to start to build our climate resilience. Obviously, for those passengers concerned, having the shock of what happened in terms of derailment
12:49
and then dealing with, as you say, really challenging conditions just compounded the issues
12:55
And as for the emergency services, they just have our gratitude. There's an amazing response. I think your previous report mentioned the Air Ambulance, who, of course, a charity, responded immediately to help people who've been affected
13:05
And I know that everybody in Lewis is enormously grateful for all of their hard work today
13:10
And when you and your colleagues return to the House of Commons in September, do you think that the events, not only of today, but of the last several weeks, were into the fifth heatwave of the year
13:21
This is the hottest day of the year, the fifth hottest on record
13:26
Are they going to result in at least you and your fellow Liberal Democrats
13:31
And I wonder what you think about cross-party views on this. Is it going to result in fresh impetus for a national plan on climate change to be devised and implemented It clearly urgent I mean as Liberal Democrats we been talking about this for a long time as
13:50
an environmentalist party. We've pressed so hard to get faster movement on what we knew was coming
13:55
down the line my whole lifetime. We've been warned that this was going to happen, that climate change
14:00
was going to have huge consequences for all our lives. And you can see it's putting people's lives
14:05
at risk. There are wildfires right now burning in this country, threatening people's homes. We've
14:10
seen what's happened in the rest of Europe in that regard too. And now we're seeing potential
14:14
impacts on other areas, including transport. So yes, it gives real impetus. I mean, obviously
14:19
we have a by-election taking place today where the individual who caused it likes to deny a lot
14:25
of these things or anything to do with climate change. And I think what we do need to work cross-party with the government and with other parties who do acknowledge this is real and get
14:33
an action plan in place because it's urgent and it's urgent for us now and it's even more urgent
14:37
for my kids evening rose how are you tonight cross simon good for milliband good for mccleary
14:45
good for lucas he's got to stop being so indefinite look i've got two points the first one
14:52
his approach to this barbecue thing was a perfect indication of how indefinite he is
14:58
it doesn't bode well. Idiots need to eat hot food in blazing sun
15:04
and cook it in tinder-dry countryside. They are not going to listen
15:10
and neither of the shops to please stop it. So you think that when you say he was indefinite
15:15
when you say he was indefinite, you're referring to the fact that he's simply urging people
15:20
not to buy them and not to sell them. Right, I mean, whereas you think he should have just come out
15:25
out and out and said, I'm banning them. Well, yes, it's a bit basic, isn't it
15:29
Lighting fires in the middle of the country. Well, they've already caused several of these vast things
15:34
You take sandwiches, for God's sake. I mean, how many 300-year-old beech trees have got to burn down
15:42
And I shouted yesterday, how many blah, blah, blah. And I said, he will wait until somebody's house has burned down
15:49
And then he might consider banning those things as a basic beginning
15:52
and then, may I add, not drill the North Sea just because Trump wants him to
16:00
Well, I mean, he would argue, I mean, to be fair to Andy Burnham, who has indicated that he is open-minded about a conversation about the future of the North Sea
16:09
I don't think he would argue he's doing it because Trump wants him to do it
16:13
I think he would, if he decides to go ahead and do it
16:17
I think he would be arguing we need to do it because we need to find ways of diversifying our energy sources in an effort to try and reduce the cost of our energy supplies
16:27
Yes, and that'll please Trump as well, won't it? I mean, the other thing is we've left it to the last minute, as other people have just been saying
16:35
It's utterly appalling. And just because people keep banging on about, oh, it's just weather and, you know, and people must be able to make money so we can't possibly tackle climate change
16:45
because profit matters more than anything else in the world. Well, and of course, as we've discussed earlier in the week, Rose
16:50
and I think you may have heard our programmes earlier in the week, there are ways of making money out of the response to climate change
16:57
And if you were the Prime Minister, you could argue that that was one way of boosting economic growth
17:02
by really putting some effort and energy behind industries and businesses that are focused on sustainability
17:09
Rose, thanks very much indeed for calling in. I just wanted to make one point coming off the back of the interview with Caroline Lucas
17:16
I was so struck before we came on air today in the newsroom
17:19
watching these astonishing images of those fires in Stourbridge and you just feel so terrible for the families there that have lost their homes
17:30
because we could see in the images that were being taken from media helicopters
17:34
hovering above the scene that homes were entirely engulfed with fire. and there was a police helicopter hovering over the scene as well
17:44
but there wasn't a firefighting helicopter. There was no firefighting helicopter or aircraft dropping water onto the scene
17:52
And you know why that is? Because we haven't got any. And one of the issues that Zach Polanski was talking about
17:58
when he was here at LBC just a few days ago was his view that the Green Party wants to tax fossil fuel companies
18:05
end their subsidies and use the money to acquire a fleet of aircraft and helicopters to fight fires
18:12
We've got to be at the point where this country, however you do it, has to find a way of securing that kind of equipment
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