Britain is a “tinderbox” and it may be October before the country sees enough rain, Andy Burnham has warned.
The prime minister pleaded with people not to start fires outdoors after a number of homes in Stourbridge in the West Midlands burned down on Thursday.
Burnham also told Radio 5Live that he has called in the military and confirmed a ban on disposable barbecues in a bid to prevent more devastating wildfires.
He was speaking as he visited Stourbridge, where he saw “absolutely devastating” scenes.
Burnham said: “Whole homes have been randomly taken out by the fire and it’s quite an eerie sight to walk past a home that would have been a family hub just yesterday now completely gutted by fire. And I met one of the families whose home has been completely destroyed.
“You just can’t begin to imagine can what that must feel like, so I wanted to be on the ground to show my support to them today.”
Parts of England are currently in their fifth heatwave of the summer, with little or no rainfall seen in weeks.
However, he said he had been warned by experts at a meeting of the government’s Cobra committee this week that the UK could be hit by floods later in the year.
He said: “The Met Office says this dry period is possibly going to last until the end of September, going into October.
“Some rainfall but not as much as we need and then we’re heading straight into a very wet latter part of the year, where the risk of flooding will be maybe greater because of the dry ground conditions.”
The PM said he planned to commission firefighting planes, as used to douse flames in Europe and the US, to combat the spread of wildfires.
He added: “I would just say more broadly to everybody; these problems are far from over. We’re going into a difficult weekend. Please just think about the situation that we’re in.
“Britain is a tinderbox right now. Setting a fire in any outdoor setting of any kind is a risk to other people’s homes. It’s a risk to other people’s lives. Don’t do it. Please don’t do it.”