Heathrow Airport was hampered by a nearby wildfire, forcing airliners to alter their take offs and final approaches to the runway

Fifteen fire engines and around 100 firefighters tackled a major grass wildfire near Heathrow Airport in London on Monday.

The wildfire in a field in close proximity to the UK’s busiest airport blew so much smoke into the air, airliners had to alter plans and use a different runway than expected.

“Due to an off-airport fire, we have alternated our runways this afternoon.”

Heathrow airport spokesperson

Planes had to switch runways, taking off from the runway normally allocated to landing under normal conditions and vice versa.

Fire crews were eventually able to get the blaze under control – and Heathrow said no flights had been cancelled.

On Monday, the Met Office also released a new report saying that July 2022 was the driest July since 1935.

It comes just two weeks after the UK reached the hottest temperatures ever recorded.

On July 19th – Cosingby in Lincolnshire reached a temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius.

At the time, the Met Office said that it was “virtually impossible” for the UK to reach that temperature in “an unaltered climate.”