New Forest areas assessed for damage after seven weekend fires
"The current risk of wildfires is high and everyone visiting can help to protect the forest."We are reviewing the affected areas to assess the level of damage. "We would like to thank the fire service for attending the incidents so quickly and making the areas safe," it added.
The site at Beaulieu is still being monitored and the cause is being investigated.The use of barbecues and the lighting of campfires in the New Forest is prohibited under Public Space Protection Orders introduced in 2023.Forestry England also urged people to discard any cigarettes, glass bottles and other litter safely to reduced the risk of wildfires following the hot, dry weather conditions.
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BBC News
14 hours ago
- BBC News
Damaged beach huts to be removed by New Forest District Council
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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Greece closes the Acropolis as 44C heatwave grips Athens and Malaga is hit by wildfires while tornado rips through airport in storm-hit France as Europe battles extreme weather
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The continent's southernmost nation has always had hot and dry summers, but is suffering increasingly devastating wildfires and scorching temperatures. National weather service EMY has said the heatwave that began on Monday is not expected to ease before Sunday, with temperatures in Athens reaching 44 degrees Celsius today and expected to increase during the week. Authorities announced that the Acropolis, Greece's most visited ancient site, would be closed for five hours from midday on Tuesday and Wednesday. Couriers, food delivery riders and builders in the wider area of Athens and other regions were among those ordered to pause work from midday until 5pm. Workers with underlying health issues were advised to work remotely to avoid heat stress. In the Balkans, firefighters are battling forest blazes across North Macedonia and Albania. Seven major fires were reported in North Macedonia, where temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius were recorded Tuesday. 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Research published last week showed that the soil surface temperature around Athens rose in some places by as much as 10 degrees Celsius since July 2024 after fires destroyed vegetation. Firefighting efforts continue from the air for the forest fire which broke out at Mediterranean scrubs between Partinico and Alcamo, western of Sicily, Italy on July 20, 2025 While Italy, Spain, Greece and the Balkans battle wildfires and scorching heat, residents in France and Germany are facing a very different problem. Brutal storms engulfed much of eastern France over the weekend with one person killed and six more injured amid the violent weather events. The roofs of several houses were torn off in the department of Saone-et-Loire, north of Lyon, such was the intensity of the winds and the lightning storms. One person attempting to make repairs to his roof was killed when he was blown off a ladder, while in nearby Jura, almost 5,000 people were left without power. Another person was seriously injured in Devrouze when he too was blown off a roof, and five more people were hurt in the Alpine department of Savoie when a tree was felled and landed on a car. Then on Monday, Tours Airport in Indre-et-Loire was battered by a tornado. Shocking footage snapped by airport workers showed the tornado ripping past the concourse. It went on to cause significant property damage in the neighbouring town of Rochecorbon. Meanwhile, the German Weather Service (DWD) yesterday issued a string of weather alerts for much of the north and southeast of the country, warning of heavy rainfall and the prospect of flash floods Videos and images shared to social media late Sunday also showed huge hailstones that were raining down across parts of the country. Southern Germany experienced golf ball-sized hail, with chunks of ice up to 5cm in size raining down through thick fog. 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BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Hosepipe bans: How are they enforced?
Millions of people in England are facing temporary hosepipe bans this summer, following the country's driest start to the year since bans - also known as Temporary Use Bans - are introduced by water companies during periods of high demand or low supply. Four companies have so far issued bans - Southern Water, Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and South East breaking the rules could be fined up to £1,000 - but how are the rules enforced? Caroline Loup, a garden landscaper who lives in Overton, Hampshire, where Southern Water's hosepipe ban has just begun, said people should be encouraged "to be nosy neighbours" to make sure the rules were being followed - but she wouldn't report someone."This ban isn't going to work unless everybody does their part," she said. "I'd probably go up to them and say, 'Have you heard about the ban?' I'd rather be up front than snoop on a neighbour."Ms Loup said action had to be taken by the water companies, including fining people who had broken the rules to deter others. "There needs to be some teeth behind the action." On the Isle of Wight, also supplied by Southern Water, gardener Tim Parry said he had received calls from "very emotional" clients who were worried about their gardens and the "intimidating" prospect of a said one client of his, a 90-year-old lady, asked him: "Do I have to walk a watering can up my garden? I don't think I can do that.""They don't want their neighbour looking out a window and thinking, 'She's out there with a hose'."He said he would be helping customers follow the rules because "our gardens aren't as important as the environment". Fines are a 'last resort' The BBC asked the four water companies whether they had ever issued fines for Yorkshire Water directly answered this, saying it had never issued a single fine and would prefer not to do so, instead asking customers to "respect" the company said it had received at least 100 reports of people who had continued to use hosepipes since the ban came into effect for more than five million households on 11 July. "If we are told repeatedly about someone breaking the restrictions, the first thing we do is remind them of their obligations - that is usually enough," a spokesperson said."However, if they continue to use a hosepipe, we may escalate our enforcement accordingly."The other three suppliers did not say if they had ever issued fines, but they all said enforcement would be the very final Water will first write to a customer who has been reported for using their hosepipe to remind them of the ban. The company said it might take enforcement action for "repeated or serious breaches". On its website, South East Water says prosecution is "very much a last resort" and "something no company wants to have to do".Police have told people not to contact them to report breaches of the ban, and instead to report them to their water company directly. But Thames Water has said customers do not need to report breaches at all, adding that it "may get in touch with customers who repeatedly don't follow the rules... just to make sure they're aware of the restrictions and how to use water responsibly".Trade body Water UK said it was not aware of anyone having ever been fined for using a hosepipe, though it did not hold data. But some people are exempt from the ban - those who are registered disabled, blue badge holders, and those who have paid a business to sow a lawn in the last 28 Meredith is a blue badge holder who lives in Oxford, where Thames Water's ban has now has mobility issues that restrict him from using a watering can - which is allowed during the ban - rather than a hosepipe to water his said the onus should not be on blue badge holders to make sure neighbours are aware they are allowed to continue using hosepipes if they decide to."I would not be uncomfortable using a hosepipe during a hosepipe ban," he said, adding that it would depend on what the weather was like or whether someone was around to help. Are warnings enough? Yorkshire Water said since the ban came into effect its customers' water usage dropped by about 26m gallons (100m litres) in just two days - without issuing a single fine and despite more than 100 reports of people flouting the rules. Dr Sianne Gordon-Wilson, who is currently looking into which factors can convince people to save water, said "peer influence" was the biggest driver."It's all about the friends and the social network," the assistant professor in marketing at Queen Mary University of London told the BBC."If they're saying it's something that you can do, it's not too much work, or it can be quite easy... then that is the most influential factor." Nicci Russell, chief executive of water-conservation charity Waterwise, said more had to be done to make the public aware of water scarcity. "We are running out of water right across the UK," she said. "There is nothing you can think of from the minute you wake up until the minute you go to bed that doesn't need water."She added that while her organisation did not advise people to report their neighbours, hosepipe bans did encourage the public to think about how they could save water. Additional reporting by Alys Davies and Michael Sheils McNamee
