Major incident declared in London as fires surge amid record temperatures

A major incident has been declared in London and Leicestershire amid a surge of fires caused by a record breaking heatwave.The temperature on Tuesday exceeded 40C in the UK for the first time on record, with 40.2C reported at Heathrow at 12.50pm.It was then surpassed by a record 40.3C recorded in Coningsby, Lincolnshire a few hours later.Mayor Sadiq Khan the incident had been declared with London Fire Brigade under “immense pressure” including multiple houses under threat in Wennington.