Firefighters 'know sunny days will be relentless'

As soon as he wakes up in the morning and sees the sun through his window, firefighter Matthew Oxborrow already knows how his day at work will turn out.

He is based at Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service. It declared a major incident at 15:15 BST on Thursday due to the number of incidents across the county placing "significant pressure" on resources.

In July alone, the service mobilised crews 2,730 times - 768 more times than in July 2025.

Oxborrow, a temporary operational support officer at the service, said: "It's call after call. We are going from one to the other. It's a big demand."

So far this summer, the service has been called out to a number of field and wildfires, including five in the same day.

Just this week it was called to a "significant" field fire in Kenninghall which spread to neighbouring homes and caused "extensive damage" to two of them. Whereas in Scratby on Wednesday, a bonfire spread to trees and the roof of a bungalow.

Oxborrow said the call outs had been "relentless" with some of the same crew members being sent to numerous incidents.

"We saw it a couple of years ago in 2022 but this year has been the same if not slightly more," he said.

With sunny hot weather he can already anticipate the sort of incidents he will be called out to, due to "heightened" demand.

He said: "You wake up in the morning and you look outside and you see the sun. You step outside, you can feel the heat and you generally know you're going to be called to a field or a fire in the open of some sorts.”

On Thursday - now officially the UK's hottest day of the year so far - BBC Look East spent with the fire service.

While not all incidents are published on the NFRS live incident feed, between 00:00 BST and 17:00, it showed there were 28 call-outs with 18 happening at the same time.

Earlier in the day, crews attended a bin lorry fire in Great Yarmouth before later 25 firefighters were deployed to a fire at Kelling Heath which destroyed two acres of heathland.

In the afternoon 10 crews worked to tackle a blaze at Thomas Bullock Primary Academy in Shipdham affecting three classrooms on the site.

However, so many call outs serve as a reminder of the importance of crew wellbeing.

Once home from his wholetime work there is not enough time for Adam Willis to decompress before he is back out on call.

Willis, a watch manager at the Carrow White Watch, said: "If you don't get a break in between and it goes on for days to weeks that can in the end start to get relentless.

"You have to make sure that you're aware of the stresses and strains it's causing to yourself and protect yourself and manage that as best you can.

"You've always got a job to do, but you've got to protect yourself and your family."

With risks to the community, people's homes and families' he said colleagues want to do the best they can to make sure areas are protected.

He said: "It's a balance between meeting the needs of the service and what we need to do to protect everyone and also the balancing of your own needs and your families needs."

Declaring the major incident, NFRS said it was still able to attend emergencies but is prioritising risk to life and property.

It asks that the public only dial 999 in genuine emergencies.

The service urged the public to help it protect the county by not lighting bonfires, campfires, or use disposable barbecues, and to refrain from discarding rubbish or cigarettes.

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