Mass evacuation following city centre fire in Nottingham
It has been reported that around 1,400 people had to be safely escorted from a Nottingham city centre nightclub due to a blaze breaking out in an empty building nearby.
Fire crews were called to Goldsmith Street just after 1am where the Rescue Rooms nightclub as well as student accommodation in the vicinity of the building had to be evacuated.
Other precautionary measures included the closing off of Goldsmith Street and Talbot Street, while tram network services were suspended.
It was confirmed that it was all carried out safely by the fire service working with police and there were no injuries as a result of the fire.
Inspector Ian Cresswell of Nottinghamshire Police reiterated this when he said:
“Nobody has been hurt as a result of the fire and people were evacuated as a precautionary measure for their personal safety.
“The fire has now been contained and we are continuing to assist the fire service while they carry out their work at the scene.”
The fire in the disused building caused disruption to commuters looking to get to work the next morning as fire crews stayed at the scene to ensure the structure was safe.
An investigation is now underway into the cause of the blaze.
Gas explosion kills pensioner
Mr George Titterton died after a gas explosion at his house in Sheen in February this year. His body was found under rubble and debris by a police dog on the third day of the search.
An investigation into the cause of the fire has concluded that the most likely cause was the leaking of propane from two gas cylinders in the kitchen. Fire investigation officer Mark McCabe said ‘The gas migrated from the kitchen and mixed with the open fire’. It is likely that Mr Titterton was trying to change the cylinder when the explosion occurred.
PC Andrew Platt who was at the scene of the fire said “The front of the building had blown out on to the road. The whole of the inside of the building had collapsed.” The fire investigation took five days to carry out due to safety concerns. Most of the building had collapsed making it difficult to access.
Friends described Mr Titterton as an independent man who would always try jobs himself before asking people for help.
1 in 10 online electrical purchases could result in fire
The Electrical Safety Council is advising people to be very careful when purchasing electrical goods over the internet, especially in the run up to Christmas.
Goods bought from outside the European Union are often not designed to be used in Europe and this can be dangerous. Buying from overseas can also mean that you can not guarantee the safety standards of the products. An industry safety body has said that as many as one in ten items bought on line can result in a fire.
Products tested included a sandwich toaster that was marked as a well known brand and even had the CE safety mark but did not actually have a fuse. In lab tests, the product was left on and because there was no fuse – it got hotter and hotter and eventually burst into flames.
Shoppers are urged to buy goods from trusted sources to avoid any accidents.
Plymouth hotel evacuated after leisure area blaze
Over 200 guests staying at the Holiday Inn in the city centre of Plymouth had to be evacuated recently following a fire which began in the hotel.
All the guests managed to escape safely and it was confirmed that nobody had been injured in the fire, which originated from the second floor, with the automatic alarm sounding shortly after 12am.
At the height of the blaze 85 firefighters from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service were on hand to try and keep it under control. The fire crews managed to contain the fire in the leisure area, which contains a swimming pool, and they prevented it from spreading to the rest of the building.
The main damage to the building was in a conference room where the ceiling had fallen in.
Due to the hotel fire, the guests were taken to other hotels in the vicinity, while a number of roads in the area were closed.
Group Commander Paul Bray, speaking to BBC News, said:
“All the guests have been safely evacuated although some didn’t leave at the time of the alarm.
“They had to be woken by fire crews; as part of the search they found them in their rooms asleep.
“Thankfully, fire precautions built into the hotel stopped the fire from spreading into the residential area.”
Pembrokeshire firefighters attend to floods
Due to the recent flooding in parts of Pembrokeshire, fire crews have had to respond to a number of incidents.
The county has been beset with heavy rain and in some areas people had to be rescued from cars.
A spokesperson for the fire service said:
“We got a call out to Llangwm near Neyland, after a few cars stuck in flood water, with reports of people in the vehicles.
“By the time we arrived, police had also attended, and a passerby had already pulled those people out safely.”
As well as these kinds of instances, the firefighters have also been using pumps to remove water from homes.
The Mid and West Wales service has been called out to a number of residences around Pembroke Dock and Haverfordwest.
There have also been issues regarding surface water on the roads where the fire service has been involved too, although most of these situations have been describes as minor, isolated incidents.
The fire service has had to help out with the flooding problems in addition to the usual call-outs for fires within the county. When it comes to fire safety, it is important to ensure that your home or business is protected against the threat posed by fire.