[10] The fire occurred during the 2022 United Kingdom heat waves, and 19 July was predicted by forecasters in advance to be extremely hot.

The Mayor of London reported that the number of fire brigade emergency calls was seven times the normal.

[13] The fire reportedly started around 1 p.m. from a compost heap in the southeast of the village which spontaneously combusted,[13] with flames spreading along a garden fence.

[6][18] One firefighter told LBC News that "it felt apocalyptic, just crazy, we were chasing it and we had no chance of stopping it".

"[25] Stock commented that "it was like a warzone...all the windows had exploded out, all the rooves had caved, it was like a scene from the Blitz".

"[13][32] Paul Davies, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, commented that the heatwave would have been "impossible in the pre-industrial era".

[19] LFB Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Smith commented "we are increasingly being challenged by new extremes of weather as our climate changes and we're developing long-term strategies to deal with more incidents like this in the future.