UK arson spate sees deliberate wildfires in Essex and Staffordshire

Firefighters extinguished a deliberate wildfire in Heybridge, Maldon, Essex on the evening of July 20. The blaze was reported around 7 p.m., smoke spread across the area and residents were advised to keep windows and doors closed. Crews brought the fire under control by 8:10 p.m. and the service appealed for anonymous information about the arson.

In North Staffordshire, a grassland fire near Blackbank Road and Cotswold Avenue was also reported as deliberate and was safely extinguished with no injuries. The incident adds to a series of recent arson attacks in the region, including fires in Sneyd Green and other local parks. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service noted that in the first weeks of July they responded to 137 deliberate outdoor fires, 76 of them in Stoke‑on‑Trent.