Feltham fire: Firefighters ‘save 30 homes’ from woodland blaze in west London

About 70 firefighters have saved about 30 homes from being destroyed by a huge woodland blaze in Feltham, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.

A raging inferno burned through trees, hedges, plants, and garden decking behind a number of houses on Hereford Road, in the west London suburb.

The cause of the blaze is not known, the fire and rescue service said after the fire was sparked on Sunday.

A large amount of smoke from the cul-de-sac could be seen 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 fire have reportedly said that windows have smashed because of the heat and that ash has been “falling from the sky”.

A number of locals have posted their own footage of their gardens ablaze 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 – damaging fields, crops, Bedfont FC’s pitches, parks, a cemetery and an animal sanctuary.