Harlequins rugby star Jade Konkel has been fighting heatwave fires across London this week.

The professional fire fighter was among the team on the scene at Wennington, to the east of London, where the worst of blazes destroyed homes and property.

Jade, who is also an international player for Scotland and was recently married, tweeted: "Major incident declared. It has been a challenging day here at Wennington but proud to have played a part.

"Heartbreaking for the families involved. Stay safe everyone!"

Her captain at Quins, Rachael Burford, responded, saying: "Incredible Jade. So sad to see."

Jade joined Harlequins Women ahead of the 2018/19 season. The Scottish international back rower has experience playing top-flight rugby in Scotland, England and France.

In 2016, she became Scotland's first full-time female player. She took a sabbatical to qualify as a firefighter during the 2020/21 season and his now both a full-time member of the Quins squad and a full trained member of the London Fire Brigade.

In an interview with Glorioussport.com she said: "It's tiring, but you make it work. I love both elements of what I do and I'm really fortunate to be able to do both.

"If I'm on a day shift, I usually go in early and get a gym session in before work. If I'm on a night shift, I'll usually go to Harlequin training during the day and then go into my night shift.

"During a quiet period, I'll try and get into the gym on my shift as well so I can kill two birds with one stone and rugby training definitely transfers into how fit you need to be to be a firefighter."

She added: "I try to prioritise sleep and we sometimes get a chance to rest, but you can't ever bank on that happening. If you have a busy night, then that's how it is."