Residents have been evacuated after the homes were engulfed just before 4 pm this afternoon on Silkstream Road, Burnt Oak, Barnet.

The helicopter dipped too low and plunged into the lake.

Five people have been rescued and taken to hospital after a fire at a restaurant in east London.

Crews from seven fire stations rushed to tackle the blaze.

Families became trapped in waist-high seawater after fleeing a wall of flames which hit the Greek coastline.

A major incident has been declared as a huge fire ripping through Yorkshire, threatening to engulf an RAF base, rages on.

The blaze began in Langdale Moor on Monday and has now burned through around 5 square kilometres of moorland.

Drone footage shows a long line of smoke filling the air as fire incinerates more and more of the natural habitat close to the ballistic missile early warning base at RAF Fylingdales.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS) has now deployed over 100 firefighters and 20 fire pumps to try and contain the fire.

They said in an update today: ‘The fire has now spread and is covering around 5 sq km.’

‘More resources are being sent to the scene. This has now been declared a major incident.’

Fire crews were first dispatched to the area at around 6.30pm on Monday after reports of smoke, with locals told to keep doors and windows shut.

At one point, the fire even ‘jumped’ a fire break put in place on late on Monday.

After that, the fire reduced in size on Tuesday night, but then spread further during the day on Wednesday.

The NYFRS group manager Tony Peel told the BBC there was ‘no timescale whatsoever’ for putting out the fire.

He said he expected the fire to die down overnight and that fire fighters would have a new plan on Thursday to extinguish the blaze.

The moor fires has also paused steam train services run by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

They said in a statement: ‘Due to the prolonged hot weather and recent fires elsewhere in the county which have meant firefighting resources have been more stretched, we’ve taken the decision to delay the start of the special No. 60163 “Tornado” services set to run on 15th, 16th and 17th August.

‘In addition, we’ve switched all of our Pickering to Grosmont standard services to heritage diesel locomotives, and we still aim to run steam-hauled services between Grosmont and Whitby due to the lower fire risk profile.

‘The NYMR is doing everything it can to fully cooperate with and support the emergency services, taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers and passengers, which is always our priority.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

It comes after several huge blazes last month.

At least two people are trapped after an explosion at a Pennsylvania steel coking plant.

At least two people are trapped after an explosion at a Pennsylvania steel coking plant.

Panicked passengers covered their mouths with scarves and blankets after a power bank suddenly burst into flames in an overhead locker.

One person has died, and at least 13 others were injured, including 11 firefighters.

A woman has died in her home in Aude, southern France, as fires spread across 11,000 hectares burning 25 homes.

Two manholes erupted with flames as pedestrians walked in a Brooklyn neighbourhood.

More than a dozen people dead; tens of thousands of others evacuated;and thousands of hectares of land burning – this is the ‘titanic battle’ the Balkans is facing.

Wildfires are currently raging in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria amid a 44°C heatwave, ongoing droughts and strong winds.

A map from Nasa shows how flames have spread across the region in the last week despite efforts to contain them.

What has become clear is that climate change is accelerating the disaster in a region already on the brink.

Turkey

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks are now threatening Bursa, its fourth-largest city, early on Sunday.

More than 3,500 people have been forced to flee their homes in villages to the northeast as more than 1,900 firefighters battled the flames.

The highway linking the city to the capital, Ankara, was shut as surrounding forests burned.

Four people have been killed so far. The death toll rose last night after two firefighters, who were pulled from a water tanker that rolled while heading to a forest inferno, died in hospital. Another firefighter died from a heart attack while on the line of duty.

Their deaths raised Turkey’s wildfire fatalities to 17 since June, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed on Wednesday.

Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for Bursa, described the site as ‘an apocalypse’.

He added on X: ‘While carrying water to the forest fire between Gürsu and Kestel districts, the water tanker that rolled into a ravine claimed the lives of our three worker brothers.

‘As our lungs burned, this tragedy added a heartache to our pain. I wish mercy for our brothers and condolences to their families, loved ones, and our Bursa.’

Footage revealed an ashen landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood.

The rise in wildfires comes as Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5°C in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday.

Greece

In neighbouring Greece, 50 fires scorched the suburbs of Athens, forcing the government to evacuate residents over the weekend.

Firefighters were working on five major fronts late Sunday in the area of Peloponnese, west of the capital, as well as on the islands of Evia, Kythera and Crete.

Kythera, a tourist island with 3,600 residents, continued to face ‘worrying’ conditions.

Deputy mayor Giorgos Komninos told the state-run ERT News channel that half of Kythera had been charred.

He said: ‘Houses, beehives, olive trees have been burnt.’

ERT reported that a fire was still burning on the island late Sunday, but in smaller fronts and the situation was improving.

Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement released on Sunday morning: ‘The state mechanism was called to engage in a titanic battle, simultaneously responding to dozens of wildfires across the country.

‘Today, the situation appears improved, but the fight continues with all available resources.’

Bulgaria

Firefighters battled wildfires at nearly 100 locations across the country on Sunday, with emergency services describing the situation as ‘critical’.

Theodora Vasileva, mayor of one of the devastated villages, Kozarevo, in the southeastern province of Yambol, said this is the first time she had witnessed a disaster of such magnitude.

She added: ‘The rapid notification system helped us a lot – people started calling and gathered in minutes. This is the first time I am seeing this hell; the sunflower crops were all in flames.

‘The elderly, whose homes are everything for them, wept. They were so worried, but everything is under control for now, their houses are preserved.’

Emergency volunteer Zvezdelin Vlaykov stressed that in all his years of firefighting, he has never seen anything like it.

He added: ‘It’s a merciless tragedy.’

This comes as two men were charged with terrorism offences after allegedly deliberately setting fires in the cities of Veliko Turnovo and Sliven.

The Ministry of Interior confirmed that the charges have been escalated from simple arson to crimes under Chapter One of the Criminal Code.

Bulgaria is the most affected country by fires for 2024-2025 in the EU, with more that 38,000 square miles affected.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

‘There were people in wheelchairs, a lot of people missing limbs, it was terrible.’

Two wildfires are burning at or near the North Rim, known as the White Sage Fire and the Dragon Bravo Fire.

Jimmy’s owner had begun to lose hope.

Jimmy’s owner had begun to lose hope.

A huge fire has ripped through an industrial estate in London.

Twenty-five fire engines and around 150 firefighters spent hours fighting the blaze on Maypole Crescent in Erith overnight.

A warehouse in the scrap yard was alight, as well as three diggers and numerous vehicle.

The industrial estate itself is home to around 20 businesses, including garages, repair shops and recycling centres.

Fire billowed out and clouded the London skyline well into the morning as the fire was brought under control at 6.52am on Saturday.

Local residents were told to keep their windows and doors shut despite the heatwave because of the smoke being produced.

London Fire Brigade first received news of the blaze at 10.57pm last night and sent crews to the scene.

They employed two 32-metre high ladders to survey the fire as it burnt the industrial estate to a crisp.

A fire boat was also mobilised, which uses two remote-operated water monitors to pump out 2,500 litres of water per minute.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

It erupted as the London Fire Brigade issued a new warning about the risks of grass fires and wildfires during a heatwave.

London Fire Brigade Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jamie Jenkins said: ‘Whilst many people will be looking forward to spending time in the sunshine, we are also urging everyone to be responsible to prevent wildfires or tragedies around the water.

‘Despite the heavy rainfall earlier this week, the Natural Hazards Partnership has assessed that the risk of wildfires in London is currently severe.

‘As the weather has been so dry, it only takes a few sparks to lead to a fire spreading rapidly. In London, this is can be dangerous because so many of our green spaces lie close to homes and other properties.’

Jenkins told Londoners not to take disposable BBQs with them when going out as they are banned from many London parks, and reminded people to dispose of cigarettes responsibly.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Around 70 firefighters are in attendance.

Hot summer weather is spreading wildfires across Europe after a blaze reached France’s second-largest city and left 110 injured.

More than a dozen Ryanair passengers were injured fleeing their plane when a fire alert went off moments before take-off at Majorca’s Palma airport this morning.

People living nearby in the Prenestino district described their windows shaking from the explosion before they fled in panic.

More than 1,500 people have been evacuated from hotels and homes on the Greek island of Crete because of a rapidly sweeping wildfire.

‘We were terrified it would reach our houses.’