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Disposable barbecues have been temporarily banned from sale in the United Kingdom over fears they pose a "significant risk to the public," the government said Friday.
The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST) said disposable barbecues have caused "a number of serious wildfires across the country over the summer months."
The department added that the items "cannot be considered a safe product" under current drought and heatwave conditions and must not be sold in stores or online.
The measure followed discussion at an emergency Cobra meeting chaired by Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Thursday, part of the government's response to record temperatures recorded earlier in the week.
Burnham said the country resembles "a tinderbox," as fire crews in the West Midlands, a region in central England, continued to battle multiple blazes.
In a video posted on the US social media platform X, the prime minister said, "This is what climate change looks like, here and now," adding that the UK has faced a series of wildfires in recent days. "We shouldn't just accept this as inevitable, and I don't," he said.
Speaking separately to the BBC, Burnham said 37 fires were active across England and Wales, four of them classified as major incidents.
Burnham also warned against reckless use of the devices, saying, "You are taking risks with other people's homes, with other people's lives, if you act recklessly."
According to reports, fire damaged nearly 40 properties in Stourbridge, a town in the West Midlands, destroying 19.
Six firefighters were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion after battling the West Midlands fires, and more than 50 people in the region received treatment from paramedics, including 19 taken to hospital.
Downing Street said it would keep the sales guidance under review.
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