Britain battles flames in record temperature of 104F

STORY: Britain recorded its highest ever temperature on Tuesday, as fires raged across its capital.

Homes were destroyed in Wennington, East London - as temperatures pushed 104 Farenheit.

Flames tore across neighboring fields - surrounding the city center - and prompting London's fire brigade to declare a major incident.

"We are bringing this incident under the control today, but the service has been placed under significant pressure. And we asked for the public’s help over the next 12 to 24 hours in particular just to be sensible in the way that they behave."

London's mayor Sadiq Khan voiced concern over the long delays it took fire brigades to respond to calls.

"Some of the fires today have required more than 30 fire engines, some have required 20 fire engines, some have required 15 fire engines. It’s simply not possible for the London Fire Brigade to respond to all these fires if they continue at this pace."

The UK has been put on a state of national emergency over the unprecedented heat.

The Met Office said the provisional record was recorded at 12.50 pm local time at London's Heathrow Airport, surpassing the previous record of 101.6F recorded in 2019.

"This work was once regarded as once in a generation incident to now becoming much more regular. And it’s not just wildfires or extremes of heat, it’s also when we are dealing with wide area flooding as well which we experienced last year."

With the mercury still rising, train routes were canceled, busy city centers appeared quiet and zoos struggled to keep their animals cool.

Other European countries are also still battling the heatwave, which has now risen from the south and settled over the west of the continent.