A grass fire near Heathrow's southern runway forced its closure earlier today, causing disruption to flights at Britain's busiest airport. Emergency services attended quickly and extinguished the blaze, but the closure led to at least two long-haul flights being diverted to other UK airports while passengers voiced frustration over the resulting delays.

A flight from San Francisco was diverted to Manchester and one from San Diego was redirected to Birmingham as a result of the closure. Footage showed smoke drifting across the runway near a parked Qantas jet, with one traveller noting the grass remained "like a tinderbox" despite recent rain. Heathrow later confirmed both runways were fully operational again, thanking staff for their swift response and apologising to passengers for the disruption.