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The
consequences of failing to act when you have the opportunity, is that it
is too late when the roasting escalates. What you can hope for is that
the politicians who allowed the situation to go unchecked, are the ones
the public
roast first when the crops fail - and we are forced to consider other
sources of protein. In London,
around 41 homes were destroyed by fires, seen as being a sign of things
to come, a climate warming fueled Armageddon.
Tue, 28 July 2026
Governments are literally sitting on their hands, while Europe is going
up in flames. It appears we have reached the point of no return, as to
the Paris
Agreement 2015, missing that 1.2 degree target spectacularly.
Witness the hottest and driest July-August on record in the UK.
Where
councils are promoting conventional house building; business as usual.
You may end up toast, with your investment in life, going up in smoke,
that is if you live to tell the tale.
What
can you do about it?
Do
not buy into a conventionally built house, if you can possibly avoid it.
But, that is unlikely. Unless you decide to build your own fireproof home -
and it's not that difficult as it may seem, for self-builders.
Hence,
take a look at what you local and national government should be doing,
but will not, because they are in the pockets and at the mercy of national
developers, like Persimmon
and Charles
Church, who don't appear to give a monkeys about global
warming, so long as their shareholders receive dividends, allegedly.
WOOD
TREATMENTS FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS
For existing wooden buildings—where factory pressure-impregnation is impossible—brush-on (or roller/spray-applied) fire-retardant treatments provide the best retrofit solution.
Depending on whether you want to preserve the natural look of the timber or need a heavy-duty protective barrier, the top-performing, regulatory-compliant options available in the UK
include:
If you are treating visible wooden rafters, beams, or support mounts and want to maintain the natural wood grain, clear intumescent systems are the industry standard.
Top Choices: Products like Zeroflame Clear Fire Retardant Paint/Varnish or Envirograf Product
92.
How They Work: They go on clear and look like a standard varnish under normal conditions. However, when exposed to extreme heat or fire, they swell up (intumesce) into a thick, insulating foam char that starves the wood of oxygen. Compliance: High-quality formulations easily achieve Euroclass B-s1, d0 or Class 0 spread-of-flame ratings, satisfying UK building control requirements for safety
surfaces.
2. Deep-Penetrating Liquid Impregnation (Best for Raw, Unpainted
Timber)
If your timbers are bare, unpainted, and absorbant (such as loft joists or newly cut timber mounts), a penetrating liquid treatment is often preferred over a surface film.
Top Choices: UltraFire Clear Wood Retardant or Zeroflame Fire Retardant Treatment.
How They Work: These are water-based, low-odour, thin liquids applied by brush. Instead of sitting on top like a paint, they soak deep into the cellular structure of the wood. When exposed to heat, the embedded chemical formula reacts to prevent the wood gases from igniting.
Advantage: They leave virtually no visible surface sheen or alteration to most timber colours (though a small test patch is always recommended to check for minor darkening) and provide lifelong protection provided the wood isn't constantly washed with running water.
Crucial Application Rules for Existing Buildings:
Bare Wood Only: Brush-on fire retardants cannot be applied over existing standard paints, varnishes, or oils unless those coatings are completely stripped back to bare wood first. The chemicals must make direct contact with the timber fibers to absorb properly.
Moisture Check: Ensure the wood is dry (ideally under 25% moisture content) before application, otherwise the chemicals will not penetrate correctly. Certificate of Supply: When purchasing fire-retardant paints for regulatory or insurance compliance in the UK, always buy from dedicated fire-protection distributors who issue a Certificate of Supply, proving the product batch meets BS 476 / Euroclass standards if requested by building control or your insurer.
WOOD
TREATMENTS FOR NEW BUILDS
There are rigorous, industry-standard fire-retardant timber treatments available in the UK that fully comply with building regulations.
When upgrading or constructing elements using timber—such as your proposed mounts—UK Building Regulations (specifically Approved Document B) and European testing frameworks dictate strict performance standards.
1. The Compliance Standard
Euroclass B and CUnder UK regulations and testing standards (BS EN 13501-1), construction
timber is rated for its "reaction to fire". Untreated timber normally sits poorly on this scale (usually Class D or E). However, industrial treatments elevate wood significantly:
- Euroclass B-s1, d0: This is the gold standard for treated timber in construction. It means the wood has very limited flame spread, produces minimal smoke (s1), and creates no flaming droplets (d0).
- Euroclass C: A slightly lower tier, still acceptable for many lower-risk or specific architectural applications.
2. How the Treatments Work
To achieve UK regulatory compliance, fire retardants cannot simply be brushed on manually on-site for structural or exterior work. Compliance requires:
- Factory Pressure-Impregnation: Industrial vacuum-pressure autoclaves force fire-retardant salts deep into the cellular structure of the timber. Brands like Burnblock® or Koppers FirePRO® are widely specified in the UK.
- Leach-Resistant (EXT) Classifications: For external or exposed environments (or spaces subjected to humidity changes and potential condensation behind roofs), the Wood Protection Association (WPA) in the UK specifies EXT or Humidity Resistant (HR) formulations. These ensure the fire-retardant chemicals do not wash out of the wood when exposed to moisture or weathering over time.
STRUCTURAL
INSULATING PANELS, OR CURTAIN WALLING
It seems new builds should be of Insulcrete type structural panels, with double glazing glass treated with film to prevent up to 60% or higher of solar radiation, with exterior walls coated with solar reflective paint, and a misting water vapour system inside houses, to cool the interior, when under attack from
wildfires. Also, to include a wide spaces between houses and trees. Perhaps, even with water sprinklers aimed at the outside walls, in extremis. Meaning larger
water storage tanks, in case the present supply system from dried up reservoirs, from drought, limits water supplies, especially, in parts of Southern England, where water is piped in from other
regions, because of poor investments in reservoirs and maintenance of
supply piping.
The following specification outlines a comprehensive, fortress-level design standard that provides exponentially more security against both extreme chronic heatwaves and acute wildfire threats.
By combining passive architectural defense with active, self-sufficient emergency systems, this model addresses the exact failure points that current housing stocks in the UK, France, and Spain face as climate zones shift southward.
WHY THIS SPECIFICATION WORKS
The Multi-Layered Thermal Shield:
Using Insulcrete-style structural panels combined with exterior solar-reflective paint and high-performance window films stops thermal energy long before it can penetrate the building envelope. This dramatically reduces or eliminates the need for energy-intensive air conditioning, keeping indoor temperatures stable even during prolonged 40°C+ heatwaves.
Overcoming Infrastructure Collapse (The Water Storage Tank):
Your point regarding municipal water failure during droughts is critical. In severe wildfire scenarios across Southern England, the Mediterranean basin, and parts of France and Spain, firefighting services often face depleted local water mains and dry hydrants. Integrating dedicated, large-capacity rainwater harvesting or backup storage tanks ensures that exterior wall sprinklers and internal misting systems have an independent, reliable water supply precisely when the grid fails.
Defensible Space and Active Suppression:
A wide perimeter zone (Zone 0/1) removes fuel sources, while exterior wall sprinklers create a high-humidity vapor barrier that protects against radiant heat spikes and flying embers—the primary causes of structural ignition during wildfires.
This holistic approach shifts the paradigm from temporary remediation to future-proofed, climate-resilient building design.
SUPPLIERS
1. White and Reflective Roof Coating BrandsSeveral established manufacturers supply specialized solar-reflective and heat-reducing coatings suitable for various roof substrates in the UK market:
- Coo-Var: Offers Coo-Var Solar Reflecting White Paint (water-based, ideal for pitched roofs, tiles, and general timber/masonry substrates) as well as aluminium variants. They are widely accessible via specialized online paint distributors like Promain and Specialist Paints Online.
- Mapei: Produces Mapei Aquaflex Roof HR, a high-performance, reflective white fibre-filled liquid roofing membrane with exceptional solar reflectance and thermal emittance ratings.
- Bedec: Manufactures Bedec Superflex Elastomeric Coating, a flexible, seamless waterproof membrane available in a solar-reflective white finish that moves well with traditional building substrates.
Other Trade Brands: Companies like Cromar, Everbuild, and Rust-Oleum (via products like Dac Hydro Alu) also provide reliable solar-reflective coatings designed to drop surface temperatures significantly.
2. Commercial Water Mist SystemsCommercial and heritage-approved water mist systems are well-established in the UK. Because they atomize water into microscopic droplets under high pressure, they use up to 80–90% less water than traditional sprinklers—suppressing heat and flames instantly while avoiding structural water damage to old timber.
- FOGTEC (Distributed via partners like Flameskill in the UK): Widely utilized for high-performance asset and building protection. They operate at high pressures (50 to 200 bar), creating a massive reaction surface area that drops ambient and radiant heat extremely fast.
- iMist™: A popular UK-based system frequently used for retrofitting into existing or sensitive structures. Their systems often feature flexible stainless-steel pipework and can operate efficiently using low water volume (sometimes mains-fed with minimal storage requirements), making them practical for older properties.
- Fire Shield Systems: Specializes in tailored automatic water mist fire suppression systems designed for high-risk environments, industrial spaces, and heritage properties, often integrating smart thermal or video flame detection cameras for rapid response.
1. Advanced Solar-Control Window Films (Alternative to Foil)
While aluminium foil inside double-glazed dormers effectively reflects light, it can trap destructive thermal heat between the glass panes if improperly placed, occasionally causing thermal shock or cracking in older glass.
The Upgrade: Switch to spectrally selective architectural solar control window films. Applied internally or externally, these virtually invisible films reject up to 70–80% of infrared solar heat while still allowing natural light through. They prevent the greenhouse effect inside rooms without ruining the building's aesthetic appearance.
2. Intumescent Paints and Fire-Retardant Impregnation
Unprotected historical timbers can ignite rapidly once ambient and radiant temperatures soar.
Clear Intumescent Coatings: For exposed historic oak beams and rafters where aesthetics must be preserved, you can apply clear intumescent varnishes or paints. These look like standard clear wood finishes under normal conditions, but when exposed to extreme heat, they swell up (intumesce) to create a thick, fire-resistant carbon char barrier that insulates the wood from oxygen and flames for a crucial window of time.
Fire-Retardant Salts: For accessible loft timbers, pressure or surface application of non-toxic, eco-friendly fire-retardant salt solutions can significantly raise the flashpoint of old timber.
3. Cool Roof Coatings (A Cost-Effective Alternative/Supplement to Metal Sheeting)
While alloy sheeting over polycarbonate roofs is a practical solar blocker, metal can sometimes conduct heat if not properly ventilated underneath.
- Elastomeric White/Reflective Roof Coatings: For slate roofs and non-heritage elevations, applying a high-albedo solar reflective coating directly onto exterior surfaces (or specialized under-slate membranes) reflects a massive percentage of solar radiation before it ever enters the roof space.
- Vented Air Gaps: If using alloy sheets over your polycarbonate roofs, ensure there is a continuous air gap (at least 50mm) and ridge ventilation beneath the metal. Without airflow, the alloy will act like an oven element, trapping super-heated air directly against the polycarbonate.
OTHER EFFECTIVE WAYS TO MAKE HOUSES SAFE AGAINST WILDFIRES
Beyond panels, coatings, and water mist systems, modern wildfire defense relies on stopping the three main vectors of destruction: radiant heat, direct flame contact, and wind-borne embers (which cause up to 90% of wildfire-related structural ignitions).
1. Positive Pressure Attic and Interior Systems
During a wildfire, standard ventilation systems can draw super-heated smoke and microscopic embers straight into roof spaces or wall cavities, igniting the building from the inside out.
The Fix: Advanced wildfire-resistant builds incorporate automated sensors that shut down standard HVAC vents during high-smoke events. Some systems can even create a slight positive air pressure inside the home using filtered external air, forcing indoor air out through tiny gaps and preventing burning embers from being sucked inward.
The immediate 0 to 1.5-meter perimeter around a building's exterior walls is the most critical vulnerability zone.
The Fix: Replacing all organic materials (bark mulch, wooden decking, low-hanging ornamental shrubs, and fencing attached directly to the structure) with non-combustible hardscaping—such as a gravel trench, stone paving, or concrete borders. If a wildfire or grass fire burns up to the building, it encounters nothing to burn against the exterior walls.
3. Sealed Eaves, Soffits, and Boxed-In Overhangs
Open eaves under a roof are a structural trap; they catch rising heat currents and collect wind-blown embers.
The Fix: Enclosing eaves completely with fiber-cement or metal soffit boards, combined with intumescent-backed louvered vents. These vents stay open for normal daily ventilation, but when exposed to the extreme heat of an approaching fire, they swell shut automatically to seal the roof space completely.
4. Double-Glazed Toughened/Fire-Rated Glass with Internal Blinds
Standard window glass cracks and shatters rapidly under extreme thermal radiation (often failing long before the wall itself catches fire, allowing internal furnishings to ignite).
The Fix: Utilizing heat-strengthened laminated glass or ceramic-coated glazing. When paired with external metal shutters or interior thermal blinds, it stops the fierce infrared radiant heat of a heatwave or nearby wildfire from passing through the windows to ignite curtains, furniture, or wooden floors inside.
WAS THE 2026 HEATWAVES CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE - WE'RE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION
As the UK has baked through extreme heatwaves this summer, the same question has echoed across television studios and radio interviews: “Was this heatwave caused by climate change?”
It’s the wrong question.
Heatwaves have always happened. They are a natural part of our weather, driven by persistent high-pressure systems. Climate change did not create the June 2026 heatwave any more than it created the famous summer of 1976.
The question is not whether climate change caused the heatwave, but how much hotter and more dangerous heatwaves have become because greenhouse gases, primarily from burning fossil fuels, have accumulated in the atmosphere.
This is the focus of attribution science, which analyses how much hotter a heatwave has become because of these extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It has transformed how climate scientists understand extreme weather. Now our public conversation needs to catch up.
The missing words in the climate conversation are not human-caused climate change, but fossil fuel emissions.
Every heatwave today develops in a warmer atmosphere containing far more greenhouse gases than it did a century ago. This makes every heatwave today hotter than it would have been without those additional emissions.
Our research illustrates this vividly. When we recreated the atmospheric conditions of the 1976 UK heatwave under today’s climate, peak temperatures were around 3-4°C higher. The weather pattern was the same; the climate in which it occurred had changed.
Climate change does not create heatwaves. It loads the dice. Weather variability still determines whether a heatwave occurs, but greenhouse gases released from burning fossil fuels make heatwaves hotter, more likely to break records, and more damaging, to health and infrastructure alike. The same principle applies to heavy rainfall, drought and coastal flooding.
The physics is remarkably simple. The atmosphere doesn’t care about politics. It responds to the concentration of greenhouse gases. Every tonne of
carbon dioxide released by burning
coal, oil and gas adds to that concentration and shifts the odds towards more damaging extreme weather.
Yet this is rarely how we talk about climate change.
Scientists and journalists often use the phrase “human-caused climate change”. It is scientifically correct, but it describes the consequence rather than the mechanism. It can also make people think first about their own behaviour: the flight they took last summer, whether they recycled or should drive less.
Individual choices matter. But they are not where the story begins.
The story begins with fossil fuels.
Burning fossil fuels accounts for around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions and almost 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. Their cumulative emissions have altered the Earth’s energy balance and changed the climate in which every weather event now unfolds.
One reason this simple physical story became blurred was the success of the personal carbon footprint. Popularised by BP’s “Beyond Petroleum” campaign in the early 2000s, it encouraged people to focus on their own emissions.
This is not about absolving individuals of responsibility. Personal choices and actions are part of the solution. But this campaign shifted public attention away from the much larger challenge of transforming the fossil-fuel energy systems responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions. No amount of shorter showers or diligent recycling can substitute for decarbonising electricity, transport, industry and domestic heating.
So, rather than asking whether climate change caused a heatwave, we should be explaining that greenhouse gases released by burning
fossil fuels are accumulating in the atmosphere, trapping heat and amplifying extreme weather. This makes all heatwaves hotter, more likely and more dangerous. Heatwaves will continue to get hotter until these fossil fuel emissions stop accumulating.
The record-breaking European heatwaves and wildfires of 2026 show us that climate change is no longer a distant threat. It is shaping the weather outside our windows today. The atmosphere will continue to respond to greenhouse gas concentrations, regardless of politics or public debate.
The climate we live in today is the least extreme climate you will experience in your lifetimes because of ongoing fossil fuel emissions.
The public conversation needs to catch up with the science. If we are serious about limiting future warming, we must rapidly reduce fossil fuel emissions while making our homes, infrastructure and communities more resilient to the climate change that is already here.
Story by Hayley J. Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts, Newcastle University
Hayley J. Fowler advises national government and various industrial sectors on extreme weather and climate change impacts. She receives funding from UKRI, the Royal Society, the Natural Environment Research Council, the Medical Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. She is a member of the UK Climate Change Committee and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Ed Hawkins receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council and the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Timber
grown for wood is only good if part of a replanting scheme, with at
least 2 trees planted for every one felled, though we would suggest up
to 10 trees should be planted to offset the loss of carbon absorption
during growth.
We
need to plant more trees - a whole lot more trees, not clear them, and
especially not waste timber that is a vital renewable resource for zero
carbon house building. Forest fires that cause deforestation are raising
the temperature of Planet
Earth and there is no Planet
B.
SOIL
EROSION - The
more land that we lose to grow crops the greater the food security
issue. As the ice caps melt, desertification spreads to make Earth more
uninhabitable.
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