THE fire service was called to more than 100 incidents in West Sussex during the hot weather this weekend.

In a busy few days for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, call handlers dealt with 101 requests for help across the county between 6pm on Friday and 9am on Monday, including fires, crashes and false alarms.

The service was also called out to tackle a major blaze at Chobham Common in Surrey, a large fire in Newhaven, and incidents in Hampshire at Liphook and Hindhead.

The Met Office is warning that the risk of wildfires is likely to remain very high for the next few days and the fire service is encouraging people to act sensibly and stay safe during the heatwave.

The fire service warned against burning garden waste and starting fires unnecessarily in the dry weather.

It advised people to dispose of their cigarettes responsibly and ensure barbecues are kept away from fences, houses and hedgerows.

Assistant chief fire officer Jon Lacey said: “With the exceptionally hot weather over the weekend, we experienced a high demand for our services.

“With more warm weather forecast to come this week, we expect this demand to remain high.

“We work closely with a number of emergency services partners to plan for situations like this, so that we can put robust plans in place to ensure we are able to maintain effective fire cover and keep our residents safe.”

“Our mutual aid agreement with all of our neighbouring fire and rescue services means that we are able to support each other in our times of need to ensure resources can be mobilised to where they are needed most.

“I know that many of our crews went above and beyond what was expected of them over the course of the weekend to ensure that we were able to support our neighbouring services, while also being able to attend our own calls quickly and effectively.

"I would like to thank all of them for their hard work this weekend.”