Images of blackened homes and firefighters tackling the flames in Wennington show the extent of the damage caused by the blaze.

Yesterday (July 19), temperatures across the UK exceeded 40C for the first time and multiple large fires broke out in the capital, forcing the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to call a “major incident".

In the village of Wennington near Rainham, the fire has destroyed a number of homes and other buildings.

A rest centre has been established by the council, providing support to those affected.

%image(14503913, type="article-full", alt="Firefighters at the scene of a blaze in the village of Wennington, east London. London Fire Brigade declared a major incident due to "a huge surge" in blazes across the capital amid the 40C heat")

%image(14503063, type="article-full", alt="The scene of the blaze in the village of Wennington on July 19")

Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham and Rainham, has attended the scenes both in Wennington and Dagenham, where another fire broke out.

He described the scene in Wennington as “devastating”, and said his office is working with Havering Council to provide support for those impacted.

“I want to pay full tribute to the professionalism and bravery of firefighters who had to cope with tackling the blazes in temperatures of 40C," he said.

“I also want to say to all those who do not see climate change as a problem or who actually deny that it is happening, wake up.

"As a nation, we have to urgently put in place the measures to arrest climate change.”

%image(14503914, type="article-full", alt="London Fire Brigade declared a major incident due to "a huge surge" in blazes across the capital amid the 40C heat")

%image(14503654, type="article-full", alt="Examples of some of the damage caused to homes in Wennington")

%image(14503915, type="article-full", alt="Emergency services at the scene of the blaze")

%image(14503916, type="article-full", alt="Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham and Rainham, paid tribute to the 'professionalism and bravery of firefighters'")

%image(14503918, type="article-full", alt="A view of the smoke coming from the homes affected by the fire")

%image(14503919, type="article-full", alt="Three of the fires raging yesterday afternoon, as seen from the sky - the fire to the left was in Dagenham, the fire in Wennington can be seen in the far distance, and the fire to the right was in Dartford")