WILDFIRES were raging across Britain yesterday in vast areas turned tinder-dry by the latest heatwave.
Families were evacuated as huge flames came within yards of their homes.
Major incidents were declared as hundreds of firefighters battled blazes on moorland.
The clouds of smoke and ash were also swept across towns and cities.
In North Wales, villagers near Conwy Mountain and the Sychnant Pass road had to flee their homes and the public were warned to avoid the area as a major fire raged for a second day.
Residents of the hillside hamlet of Capelulo were advised to “leave safely and follow the instructions of the emergency services on scene”.
Local Ben Campbell said: “The sound was worse than anything. It was so loud, the crackling. You could hear it coming down the mountain.”
North Wales was also hit by two 39739184 in Gwynedd and another in Flintshire.
Another fierce blaze in Oldham, Gtr Manchester, was thought to have been started by fireworks let off in memory of Karl Holland, 18, who drowned in Dovestones reservoir on Friday.
A woman aged 20 was yesterday arrested on suspicion of arson, police confirmed.
In the Peak District, fire crews were back tackling a blaze that first started on June 24 on Tintwistle Moor near Glossop, Derbyshire.
Fires also erupted in London, Co Durham, Hampshire, East and West Sussex, Devon and Somerset, echoing the string of blazes seen across parched southern Europe.
And the summer’s third heatwave also claimed the life of a dad who died saving his children from the sea.
He and a passing dog walker ran in to save his son and daughter when they were swept out at Seaton Carew, Co Durham, on Sunday.
The children were rescued but both men were declared dead after being pulled from the water by the RNLI.
More than 30 people have drowned while swimming in open water during this year’s hot spells.