PARAMEDICS treated 54 people, including 19 who were admitted to hospital, after some “of the most significant” wildfires seen in the West Midlands, emergency services said today.

A further six firefighters have been taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion after fires led to thousands of 999 calls on the hottest day of the year on Thursday.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it responded to “a number of serious fires” across the region as Britain faced its fifth heatwave this summer.

The Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that six of its firefighters had been admitted to hospital yesterday morning.

West Midlands Fire Service said crews were still “making progress” today and “tactically working across several different areas” on Norton Road in Stourbridge, where one fire broke out.

The Stourbridge incident saw six patients treated by medics, including a woman and a boy who were taken into emergency care due to smoke inhalation. The remaining four were discharged at the scene.

Ed Lawrence, councillor for Kingswinford North and Wall Heath, said residents evacuated due to the fire in Stourbridge were unable to go home.

A senior fire officer said the fire, which forced some people to flee after it started tearing through homes, was “one of the most significant” incidents the region’s fire service had ever dealt with.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has offered additional support to fire and rescue services in the region, West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker told Sky News.

Andrew Reynolds, 42, who saw his childhood home go up in flames in Highters Heath, Birmingham, said his mother has “lost everything” in the “inferno,” including “100 years’ worth of photos from the family.”