Wildfires and floods cost emergency services 11m

"The capital has seen 808 wildfires rage in the last seven years, which cost the London Fire Brigade (LFB) more than 5.4m to respond to, according to figures from the mayor of London. This year alone, there have been 21 wildfire incidents, prompting the LFB to deploy 4,022 personnel in response and costing 766,000, City Hall said. Meanwhile, the cost of tackling floods since 2018 reached 5.8m this year, including 557,000 for 195 incidents in 2025, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service."

"This summer London faced four heatwaves, with Met Office statistics confirming summer 2025 as officially the UK's hottest on record. Figures show that since 2018, Havering has seen the most wildfires, with 158 taking place in the borough. This includes the Wennington blaze of 2022, which saw more than a dozen houses destroyed. The local authority has seen 37 incidents this year, compared with eight in 2018."

"Flooding has also increasingly affected the capital, with the Greater London Authority (GLA) branding flash flooding as the main environmental risk to residents. City Hall analysis found that floods could affect almost half of London's hospitals and a fifth of schools. Assistant Commissioner for LFB's operational resilience and control, Pat Goulbourne, said: "We know that climate change is having an impact on London's weather, including increasing the risk of wildfires and flash flooding." He called for landowners to take preventative steps such as the creation of fire breaks."

Emergency services in London have spent more than 11m responding to wildfires and flooding since 2018. The London Fire Brigade responded to 808 wildfires since 2018, costing more than 5.4m, and deployed 4,022 personnel to 21 wildfire incidents this year, costing 766,000. Flood response costs reached 5.8m since 2018, including 557,000 for 195 incidents in 2025. Summer 2025 brought four heatwaves and was confirmed as the UK's hottest on record. Havering recorded 158 wildfires since 2018, including the destructive Wennington blaze of 2022. City analysis warns floods could affect almost half of hospitals and a fifth of schools, prompting calls for preventative landowner action and greater investment in climate resilience.

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