Listed home’s roof destroyed in Appleshaw fire

A grade II listed property in Appleshaw, Hampshire was badly damaged following a house fire  where 60 firefighters from Hampshire and Wiltshire were called to the scene.   Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said the roof of the family home was “well alight” when they arrived, however  no-one was injured in the blaze.

The house is occupied by John Goold and his family and he described the experience:  “I thought ‘That looks a bit too close to home’, and when I got back the family were in the garden in their pyjamas.  “There was a lot of smoke and it was pretty scary. I can’t overstate how amazing the fire brigade were,” he said.

Man dies in Barnsley house fire

Early this week three fire engines from Cudworth, Barnsley and Tankersley stations were called to a fire where the a man died.

An investigation has been taking place following the Barnsley house fire.

The man, believed to be in his 60s, was the only person in the house on Woodhall Road, Darfield.  When firefighters arrived the ground floor of the semi-detached house was well alight.  Wearing breathing apparatus and using hose reels to extinguish the fire the crew tackled the blaze.

A full investigation into the cause of the fire will take place today.

Fire brigade maps city risk to improve emergency response

To respond better in emergencies a fire brigade in Amsterdam has mapped the risks in the city by combining 600,000 objects such as buildings, railways and roads with possible incident types such as fires and traffic accidents.

This allows them to build a risk profile of particular streets and understand the types of incident that are most common in particular locations and helps them to benchmark its performance against national standards.

The team has also used the tool to reduce the chance of fire in certain areas. By analysing the data they found that 20 percent of all fires in the whole district were caused by unsafe cooking.

For more please visit the full article at http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-03/19/amsterdam-fire-brigades

Selby fire crews receive river rescue boat

A £50,000 river rescue boat has finally been received by fire crews in Selby.

Crew training has been continuing at Nottingham’s Home Pierrepoint National Watersports Centre ahead of the boat’s arrival.  This was delayed after the original craft was found to be too small to be used in tidal rivers.

The boat was intended as a national asset which could be called into action around the country in times of emergency and both Red and Blue Watches at Selby Fire Station each have four members trained as coxswains.

Image source:  www.yorkpress.co.uk

Permit review at A Lewis and Co waste fire site, Nantyglo

A watchdog has announced that a waste site in Wales which caught fire earlier this year and burned for over 10 days failed to meet environmental standards.

The company A Lewis and Co, who’s site is based in Nantyglo, Blaenau Gwent said it believed the fire was started deliberately.

Some waste that was moved onto nearby council land as firefighters attempted to tackle the blaze has still to be removed.

Rhys Williams, speaking on behalf of A Lewis and Co, said the firm was in discussions with Blaenau Gwent council over who was responsible for the waste, which was now more expensive to remove after becoming waterlogged during efforts to tackle the fire.

“Landfill tax is on weight. When it was on here – let’s say there were 400 tonnes of it – that 400 tonnes was soaked and doused by the fire brigade for a week and a half,” he said.

“It now weighs twice or three times what it did. Therefore, the financial consequences of that are not of our making.”