Rozina Sini
Your Voice

Image source, Primrose Simkins

Primrose Simkins, 22, lives in Stourbridge. She has been evacuated with her family and tells me she hasn't been told yet when they'll be allowed to return.

When the fire broke out, she was at home with her brother, who first spotted the flames. Together, they watched a neighbouring house catch fire.

"We were so anxious," Primrose says but then adds they saw a farmer draw "a massive line in the dry grass next to the fire" - creating a firebreak she says held off the blaze "quite a bit".

"If it wasn't for the brave farmer, our road and the attached properties would've been potentially decimated or damaged."

However, "one of the embers crossed the line and it reignited", she says and her family ultimately had to leave the home as the smoke made it "hard to breathe".

She's now planning to join forces with the rest of the community to set up a fundraiser for the farmers who "sacrificed their well-being" to contain the fire as they now face the prospect of their crops and their land being destroyed.

Elizabeth Joyce
BBC News

In Willenhall, West Midlands, the smell of smoke hangs in the air and scraps of police tape flutter on the pavement.

The Black Country town, located between Walsall and Wolverhampton, has seen fires break out in streets just a stone's throw from each other.

The smell of smoke is heaviest in Harry Perks Street, which saw several gardens go up in flames on Friday.

Just a short walk away, at the junction of Thorne Road and Dingle Lane, six patients had to be treated by paramedics following a garden fire on Thursday afternoon. They were all discharged at the scene.

But it is Stonehouse Avenue that has seen the biggest devastation. Three bungalows have been severely damaged, with two losing their roofs completely and their insides gutted.

The homes, so clearly loved and cared for, are now just blackened shells.

An online briefing is being organised for Stourbridge residents waiting for news about their return home.

Dudley Council has emailed residents about the briefing which will take place today at 14:00 BST.

While some road closures are lifted, important safety checks must be completed before residents can return to affected properties, it says.

The council is also warning about the spread of misinformation on social media, asking people to rely on updates only issued through official channels.

Everyone involved in the “remarkable” local community efforts is being thanked but the council is requesting donations to be paused as they assess what is needed.

These are the current images of fire devastated homes in Stourbridge.

West Midlands Fire Service said 19 houses were "fully destroyed" in the region on Friday, with 18 suffering extensive damage.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, EPA

West Midlands mayor Richard Parker visited the town on Friday and said the people he met were still in shock.

"They’re doing the best they can to cope, but what we have to do is ensure they get all the support they need, so that they can get their lives back on track at the right time.”

Image source, EPA

Image source, PA Media

In Birmingham, there is a huge community effort to help those whose homes burnt down or were severely damaged in two separate fires.

Around the same time as the huge Stourbridge blaze raged, fires broke out in Gorleston Road, Warstock and Hillmeads Road in Kings Norton.

The causes have not yet been determined. A 55-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson to endanger life in connection with the Kings Norton fire.

Image source, Warstock Community Centre

Warstock Community Centre is offering a safe place for people to have a cup of tea and toast for those affected. Anyone impacted by the fires can help themselves to donated items.

Also in the city, the Courtyard Cafe and Tanquility Tanning in Rednal are accepting drop-off donations. They are appealing for toiletries, clothes, toys, bedding and blankets and everyday household items.

Joan Cummins
Midlands Today reporter

I’m at Racecourse Lane in Stourbridge, where evacuated residents are gathering at cordons to ask when they can be allowed back to their homes.

Multiple homes on the street have been severely damaged after the blaze started at a nearby golf course.

Image source, PA Media

I’ve spoken to a couple whose house is one of those that has been destroyed. They tell me they know they have lost everything, but are still not being allowed to go and see for themselves.

They’re frustrated by a lack of information and co-ordination, and furious Royal Mail told them they would have to “go online and pay £45 to get their mail redirected”.

I’ve also spoken to a man who has only seen his destroyed home on BBC footage. He says he met the prime minister yesterday who promised to personally intervene to help his family get their passports.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Richard Parker, the mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority, says the UK will need to consider how and where new homes are built as the risk of fires becomes more frequent.

He says the "extraordinary" scale of the fire in Stourbridge, which burned for nearly three days, highlights the impact of climate change on not only nature but on the public.

Parker says plans are already being worked on to ensure the best response to similar incidents, with a pilot project in development with the Department for the Environment looking at "the homes we build, how we build them" and the impact on the transport system.

He says buildings close to open land and grassland face the highest risk, saying "frankly we have no choice" to build firebreaks and ensure the fire service has ensured access to water supplies to douse fires.

"These [fires] are going to be, inevitably because of climate change, something we're going to face up to on an annual basis."

Nick Johnson
Reporting from Stourbridge

I’m at the police cordon where residents are being allowed back to their houses to collect medication and check on pets.

For many, this is the first time they’ve been back to their homes since the fire forced them out.

There’s a feeling of apprehension and concern among those climbing aboard the police van to take them the short distance back to their roads.

Andy Singleton and his wife, Jean, have just returned to their home for the first time following the fire.

“The garden has gone and the shed has melted, it’s miraculous that the house is ok”.

He says there is ash everywhere, so much of it that it looks like it’s been snowing. “It’s like a warzone”, Jean adds.

Joan Cummins
Midlands Today reporter

Road blocks remain in place on Racecourse Lane in Stourbridge, where multiple houses caught fire after flames spread from nearby grassland.

Evacuated residents are asking emergency services when they can go into their homes.

Local farmer Daniel Pardoe realised "very quickly" that the fire was serious in Stourbridge as he and other farmers stepped in to help contain the blaze on Thursday.

Pardoe tells BBC Breakfast he helped contain the flames with a sprayer while six other local farmers with cultivators drove close to the fire to create firebreaks with the support of colleagues on foot.

"We used cultivators to disk in the ground, so we could chop up the grass, stubbles, whatever else we could [to] remove fuel from the fire so it couldn't spread any further," he says.

"It mostly worked," Pardoe adds. "Makes us really proud of what we have achieved."

The West Midlands farmer says the lack of rain in recent weeks means "there's no moisture in the top foot of the soil at the moment, so there's no protection from the ground against fire spreading".

Because of this, he says it's important for people to use "common sense" and "be sensible".

NFCC chair Phil Garrigan says nine firefighters have been injured over the past 48 hours while tackling major wildfires across the UK.

Nine were taken to hospital after suffering the effects of smoke inhalation, he says, "on the basis of the fact that they were putting themselves between the fire front and people’s properties… taking courageous actions".

The majority have been released following checks, he says.

West Midlands Fire Chief Simon Tuhill says one of his female officers have been taken to hospital but was now back on duty and had been keen to return to the scene.

Phil Garrigan, chair of the National Fire Chief’s Council (NFCC) has described the strain on services across the UK, which have been called out to an additional 43 new wildfires in the last 24 hours.

This is in addition to largescale incidents in the West Midlands, South Wales and Hampshire.

"There’s still 41 fire engines which aren’t necessarily deployed in their own areas because they are deployed into those three areas where there are major incidents declared,” he tells BBC Breakfast.

"We’ve had 11 major incidents declared over the last 48 hours, which means fire and rescue resources are incredibly stretched and under incredible pressure.”

The former chief officer for Merseyside said there were a number of requests for resources during the busiest 24 hour period that could not be met.

"Fire and rescue services were asking for resources, they’d asked for maybe 10 additional appliances to come in nationally, and we weren’t able to provide them with the full 10 in the first instance.

"We’ve had to provide them with those 10 fire appliances over a more extended period of time than we would have liked to."

Image source, PA Media

Residents living on the A451 Norton Road in Stourbridge have been allowed to return home following a huge fire which started on Thursday, damaging or destroying 40 properties in the area.

West Midlands Fire Service said in a post on Facebook, external the road would be open to those living there only, and asked them to park further down it and walk to their homes.

“We would love to be able to welcome all residents back immediately, but our priority now is ensuring the affected area is safe,” a spokesperson said.

Our reporter at the scene says residents are showing their passports to gain access to the cordoned off roads.

The huge blaze began at Stourbridge Golf Course on Thursday afternoon and spread quickly to nearby homes, affecting an area of 500 acres.

On Friday, the fire service said it was still working to dampen down hotspots on open grassland, along the railway embankment and in gardens.

Cordons and road closures remain in place elsewhere in the town.

The Bishop of Dudley, the Right Reverend Martin Gorick, was home in Stourbridge when the first firefighters arrived to tackle a blaze nearby.

In a matter of minutes, he tells BBC Breakfast, flames had become "as high as houses, heading towards houses where we knew people were living".

"A horrifying, horrifying situation," Gorick says. "You just hear those crackles, explosions, houses literally going up in smoke before your eyes."

The bishop says his wife ultimately grabbed "a couple of carrier bags and stuff" and they evacuated their home, helping elderly neighbours get out.

"That's the last we've seen of our homes and I've not been back. I think it's still standing but that's all I know."

Silvia Abdullah is the mother of A-level student Dominic – their house in Quarry Park Road, Stourbridge, escaped damage but some neighbours’ homes were destroyed.

Abdullah describes how the family was at home getting ready to go out to celebrate her son’s results: "The light reflecting onto our house, it wasn’t right,” she says.

“Next minute we both smelt the smoke. We could hear the emergency services coming so I went outside," she recalls, with a property further down the street already up in smoke.

“[They were] trying to spray it down to stop the spread but it was windy and the fire was progressing quite fast," Abdullah says.

The family went home and began to pack their belongings before the police arrived and started telling people to get out.

“We still don’t know when we can return home. We’ve lived on the street for 10 years. Our community is very close. I hope it will be able to regain its original state."

The Prince of Wales has thanked firefighters, emergency responders and volunteers for their response to the wildfires across the country.

In a statement William says: “Our thoughts are with everyone affected, particularly those who have lost their homes, and with those working tirelessly to protect communities, homes and the countryside.”

A student has described the moment he watched his neighbours’ houses burning down just hours after receiving his A-level results.

Dominic Abdullah says he was supposed to go out to celebrate at a local Wetherspoons with his parents when they first smelt the smoke coming from outside.

“Seeing the houses go down, seeing neighbours we know - their rooftops just burning, the whole street covered in smoke...it's really hard to describe," he tells the BBC.

Dominic, who has been accepted to study law at Aston University, says the day “could not get any more significant” emotionally.

“There is no doubt the community will come together and try our best but nothing like this has happened before,” he says.

“When something of this scale happens, it’s going to leave an impact undoubtedly.”

In an update on the current situation in Stourbridge, West Midlands Chief Fire Officer Simon Tuhill says work is continuing to bring the fire under control.

Tuhill tells BBC Breakfast the blaze was "one of the most serious I've seen as an operational firefighter in 38 years in the fire rescue service", saying he's "massively proud" of intervening fire crews.

Thirty-eight properties have been affected so far - 19 were "completely destroyed" while another 19 were damaged.

Three firefighters had to be treated by the ambulance service, he says, including one who had to be taken to hospital. Tuhill says "she's fine" now and has already returned to the scene to help colleagues who are ensuring hot spots do not break out.

On the cause of the blaze, he says an investigation is under way but it will take time to identify where the fire started due to the size of the area affected - "over 500 acres, a huge area", Tunhill adds.

He asks the public to "be responsible" and abide by a government alert warning people not to light anything that could spark a wildfire.

Amy Cole
Reporting from Stourbridge

There are several cordons still in place in Stourbridge, and police say they could well be in place for some time.

Yesterday some residents were escorted back to their properties – but only for a few minutes to collect a few possessions.

More people this weekend may well be allowed to go back to their homes just to see the extent of the damage.

Nineteen homes have been fully destroyed by the fire, the local fire service says, a further 18 suffering extensive fire damage.

This is a catastrophe on an epic scale.

Jacob Phillips
Live reporter

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Residents are waiting to find out what is left of their homes and possessions after more than 30 properties were destroyed or damaged in wildfires in the West Midlands.

Nineteen homes were destroyed and 18 damaged as flames ripped through grass and woodland in Stourbridge after a fire started at a golf course on Thursday.

Student Dominic Abdullah tells the BBC there were "roof tops just burning, the whole street covered in smoke" as he watched neighbouring homes burn down. Residents had just minutes to evacuate as the fire spread.

Police are keeping an open mind to how the fire - which West Midlands Fire Service says is one of the most significant incidents they have ever dealt with - may have started.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the scene as "devastating" and compared Britain to a "tinderbox" after visiting Stourbridge on Friday.

The conditions prompted a national alert to be sent to mobile phones warning of a "very high risk of wildfires nationally".

It asked people to not do anything that could spark a fire.