A total of 1,017 wildfires have been recorded in England and Wales this year, according to data shared by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), which matches last year’s record.
Disposable barbecues “cannot be considered a safe product” in the current conditions and they “must not be made available for sale either in store or online at the current time” in Great Britain, according to the advice published by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST)., external
The ban applies to England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the measures were “common-sense steps to protect lives and the environment.”
All retailers will be receiving guidance about the change, which will be kept under review, Burnham told the BBC.
Burnham also said some of the wildfires burning across the country will have been started by disposable barbecues.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Matt Chorley, the prime minister said: “We’ve got 37 fires across England and Wales right now, four of them are major incidents.”
He added: “We’re going into a difficult weekend, please just think about the situation that we’re in.
“Britain is a tinderbox right now. Setting a fire in any outdoor setting of any kind is a risk to other people’s homes, it’s a risk to other people’s lives, don’t do it, please don’t do it.”
Many large retailers and supermarkets had already voluntarily stopped selling the devices under a framework agreed in 2023, external between fire chiefs and the British Retail Consortium.
It said that retailers should suspend sales once an extreme heat event has been declared as imminent, or in response to “reasonable, evidence based” requests from local councils.
David Skaith, the elected Labour mayor for York and North Yorkshire who has been campaigning for a ban on single-use grills, urged the prime minister to make it permanent.
He told the BBC: “We know the risks that disposable barbecues have been causing and to have a ban on them is much-needed, much-called-for and I hope it becomes long-term.”
Burnham also said he planned to commission firefighting planes, like those used in Europe and the US, to combat the spread of wildfires.
He said plans were being drawn up for emergency financial support for fire services battling the spread of wildfires.
“We have a fire and rescue service across the country that isn’t properly set up to deal with these incidents,” he said.
“We don’t have the capability in the way that we should have to fight these fires.
“There’s thousands of firefighters out there today doing back-breaking work, in full kit, in the most difficult conditions”, he said.
He said the UK must face up to the “changing climate” and transition to “more clean energy”.
His comments came ahead of the appointment of Baroness Blake of Leeds as fire minister.
Friends of the Earth urged the prime minister to tackle the “root cause” of the “climate emergency” that is fuelling this summer’s extreme weather events.
“Without urgent action to curb the carbon emissions driving this crisis, future heatwaves, droughts and wildfires will only get worse and the ability for future generations to adapt will disappear” the environmental group warned.
Burnham was speaking during a visit to Stourbridge to see the impact of a devastating blaze.
As the UK experienced its hottest day of the year on Thursday, residents fled their homes when fires spread through dry grass and tore through houses.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said it treated 54 casualties at eight different fires across the region. Nineteen people were taken to hospital for treatment.