Fifty-four people, including 19 who were taken to hospital, were treated at eight different fires on Thursday, West Midlands ambulance service said, with the fire service confirming 19 homes in Stourbridge, a market town in Dudley, had been fully destroyed and an additional 18 damaged.<\/p>\n
During a visit to Stourbridge on Friday, Andy Burnham said the UK was like a \u201ctinderbox\u201d and announced the commission of firefighting planes to tackle future wildfires. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen scenes like this anywhere in Britain,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
The Guardian spoke to people who were forced to hurriedly evacuate from their homes in Stourbridge on Thursday, as a wildfire spread near the town\u2019s golf course.<\/p>\n
From left: Andy Hobbs, Gemma Hobbs and neighbour John Bairner, were evacuated from their homes on Osmaston Road. Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
They repeatedly praised the support and efforts of local authorities and neighbours, but are yet to return home, with some staying at a nearby hotel or a makeshift evacuation centre that had been set up at a local boarding school.<\/p>\n
Gemma Hobbs, 46, and her partner, Andy, 61, were evacuated from their home on Osmaston Road on Thursday, as the wildfires raged over a mile away. Andy described seeing a house in flames.<\/p>\n
Gemma said: \u201cI looked out the windows and all I could see was thick black smoke. My husband came home in a bit of a flap and said: \u2018We\u2019ve got to get out. We\u2019ve got to get out immediately.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Andy added: \u201cIt\u2019s just the fact you don\u2019t expect something to be as exponential as this so quickly. From the span of the area, it\u2019s over 40 acres, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been told.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gareth Jones, 59, was providing shelter to his neighbour John Bairner, who had to be evacuated overnight and said it was a \u201cscene of devastation\u201d, calling the wildfire \u201cterrifying\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably one of the scariest days of my life yesterday,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just the speed at which it spread, it was devastating. Absolutely frightening how quickly it spread. Within an hour. It\u2019s a major event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bairner added: \u201cAll of the fields have gone, they\u2019re all black. There\u2019s a lot of residents up there, with buckets, hoses, just dampening down because it\u2019s still smouldering away up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers and helpers handling donations to Old Swinford hospital boarding school in Stourbridge. Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The Old Swinford hospital, a boarding school in Stourbridge, was set up as a makeshift evacuation centre for affected people late on Thursday.<\/p>\n
As queues of cars and volunteers dropped off donations and supplies on Friday, the headteacher of the school, Paul Kilbride, described the fires as a \u201cdevastating experience\u201d, with more than 20 people evacuated from a nearby care home.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what I saw, [the evacuees] were very tired and very anxious. I think they also showed great spirits [and] they obviously want to go home now,\u201d he said. \u201cThis community suffered a lot yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laurence Green, 66, stayed at the Old Swinford hospital boarding school overnight after he was evacuated from his home on Osmaston Road. Green said he saw \u201cplumes of smoke\u201d on Thursday afternoon before he was directed by police to evacuate to the town hall.<\/p>\n
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