About 70 firefighters have been called to the scene of an outdoor fire in Feltham, west London, just metres away from people’s homes.
Trees, hedges, plants, and garden decking have been burning behind a number of houses on Hereford Road, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.
The cause of the blaze is not known at this stage, the fire and rescue service said.
A large amount of smoke could be seen coming from the cul-de-sac by passengers on planes en route to the nearby Heathrow Airport.
Historian Robert Harris shared one of the videos, and said: “Coming in to land at Heathrow just before 5pm today. The scorched fields. The fire!”
People living close to the inferno have reportedly said that windows have smashed because of the heat and that ash has been “falling from the sky”.
A number of people in the area have posted their own footage of their gardens alight with flames taller than the trees.
Some locals reportedly said that they had heard an “explosion”. This has not been confirmed by emergency services.
The firefighters were called to the scene at 4.35pm. They arrived in 10 engines from a number of fire stations including ones outside the borough of Hounslow, such as those in Hillingdon, Kingston, Southall, Surbiton, and Tooting.
Hounslow station commander Tamer Ozdemir, who was at the scene, said: “Firefighters have worked incredibly hard in hot, arduous conditions to stop the blaze spreading to nearby properties.
“Their hard work has saved approximately 30 homes in Hereford Road.
“Around 60 residents were evacuated due to the amount of smoke.
“Our drone team is on scene assisting crews with identifying further hot spots in the surrounding woodland.”
Metropolitan Police said its officers have been assisting LFB at the scene, and has advised people to “avoid the area”. The main road, Harlington Road East, has been closed.
This is the second fire to have hit Feltham in the past week.
On Monday (1 August), about 100 firefighters tackled a massive grass fire on Hatton Road that burned through six hectares, including standing crop, a field, Bedfont FC’s football pitches, parkland, grassland, a cemetery and an animal sanctuary.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/feltham-fire-west-london-firefighters-b2140240.html
