Emergency wildfire alerts sent to millions of mobile phones

The alert warned the public not to light fires in the countryside or other open spaces, including parks, moorland and wooded areas.

It is the largest ever use of the technology since the emergency alert system was introduced in 2023, and sounded on every mobile phone in the country.

The advice also warned the public not to leave barbecues unattended, to fully extinguish them, and to dispose of cigarette ends carefully.

It came after Andy Burnham called in the military to fight wildfires.

Firefighters are battling more than 30 blazes in South Wales and have warned of an “extremely high risk” of the fires spreading. Mr Burnham said he was sending 100 military personnel to the area to offer “critically needed” support.Speaking from the West Midlands, where devastating wildfires destroyed 19 houses on Thursday, the Prime Minister also announced a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues because of the “significant risk to the public” during heatwaves.

The wildfires have presented the first national crisis of Mr Burnham’s premiership, just weeks after he took office and days after his summer holiday.

The Prime Minister has been keen to front the Government’s response, convening a COBR meeting on Wednesday and visiting the site of a devastating blaze in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, on Friday.

He has approved the military deployment in South Wales, appointed a new fire minister and announced he will consider ways to make the country more resilient to fires in future.

Mr Burnham urged people not to light open fires “of any kind” and to dispose of cigarette ends carefully, adding: “You are taking risks with other people’s homes, with other people’s lives, if you act recklessly.”

Later on Friday, the Government appointed Baroness Blake of Leeds as fire minister, serving in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

He told the BBC that the Met Office believed the dry spell would last until the end of September, when some rain was expected.

He said: “Maybe some rainfall, but not as much as we need, and then we are heading straight into a very, very wet latter part of the year, where the risk of flooding will be maybe greater because of the dry ground conditions.”