Temperatures over the next few days will remain cooler than the 40.3C recorded in July, the hottest temperature on record, but the heatwave will continue for a “prolonged period”, the Met Office said. People have been urged not to barbecue in drought conditions after people from 15 homes were evacuated after a garden fire spread out of control in Essex. Essex County Fire and Rescue said about 40 people were forced to evacuate properties due to the fire that damaged more than a dozen homes on Saturday. Neil Fenwick, the service’s area manager, said: “While the summer weather usually provides the perfect opportunity to host a barbecue or gather around a fire in the evening, we strongly discourage people from having any kind of fires at this time. “The ground in Essex is extremely dry, allowing fires to spread easily and quickly.” The fire service also warned against setting off fireworks or sky lanterns, which could spark a large-scale fire in parched areas. Warm weather is likely to continue across England and Wales next week as high pressure builds across the UK. Parts of NW Scotland may be cloudier and windier until Wednesday, but sunshine is expected across parts of the country later in the week. It comes after Sunday brought wall-to-wall sunshine across most of Britain, with a high of 28.1C recorded in Frittenden, Kent. Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “There will be plenty of sunshine for the vast majority of the UK and temperatures will also rise day by day. “Not everyone will see these sunny conditions initially, but towards the end of the week even Scotland and Northern Ireland will join the rest of the UK in generally good, sunny and very warm, if not hot, conditions. “It looks like a prolonged period of dry weather and obviously that’s bad news for the south of England where some rain would really help now. “In terms of temperatures, we’re looking at them rising from 28C or 29C tomorrow to the low to mid-30s from Thursday onwards, so a fairly widespread heat wave is developing across the UK this week. “The peak temperatures look likely to occur on Friday or Saturday.” Morgan said the West Midlands and West Country could see the hottest temperatures, with a maximum forecast temperature of around 35C, but added that this was still uncertain. He added: “The heat wave that we saw at the end of July was relatively short-lived and saw extremely high, extremely high temperatures that broke records. “We’re pretty sure the temperatures won’t go as high as July, but the difference is that this will be quite a prolonged period of temperatures in the low-30s, so it will be very noticeable nonetheless. “Heat criteria are likely to be met in many parts of the UK and there will undoubtedly be some adverse effects from heat exhaustion, dehydration etc. related problems during this period”. The Met Office urged people to take precautions to avoid overheating, including keeping curtains and windows closed during the day and avoiding the midday sun. The UK environment secretary has urged more water companies to ban hoses during an unusually dry August. George Eustice said some companies had already taken the “right” steps to mitigate the effects of the prolonged dry weather, as he encouraged others to follow suit. His remarks, the first public intervention by a minister, raise the prospect of restrictions on watering gardens, washing cars or filling swimming pools with tires for millions more people across southern England in the coming days. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Southern Water has already imposed a pipe ban for customers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, followed a week later for South East Water customers in Kent and Sussex. Welsh Water also announced a ban for Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire later this month.
