In pics: Britain counts cost of hottest day ever

Firefighters continued to work overnight to damp d... moreFirefighters continued to work overnight to damp down wildfires and engineers raced on Wednesday to fix train tracks that had buckled on Britain's hottest day, triggering warnings that efforts to tackle climate change needed to be stepped up. The London Fire Brigade also endured its busiest day since World War Two on Tuesday when temperatures topped 40C for the first time, igniting fires that destroyed dozens of properties in the capital and sent flames racing through tinderbox-dry grassland at the sides of railway tracks and roads.