Fire alarm temporarily halts wedding service

A fire alarm was set off due to a steaming kettle at a church wedding service in Westhoughton over the weekend.

Nicola Towers and Mark Fishwick, the couple getting married, had to wait as the fire crew checked that there was no fire and the wedding vows could be exchanged at the service in St Bartholomew’s Church.

The wedding ceremony was only put on hold for a few minutes as the fire alarm rang out and the fire service attended to the call out, with guests moving to the vestry but once it was all over the four firefighters from Hindley formed a guard of honour for the couple by raising their fire axes.

Hindley fire station crew manager Mike O’Neill said:

“Apparently, a steaming kettle in the bell tower caused the fire alarm to go off. There were a number of people up there waiting to ring the bells.

“Myself and colleagues Chris Marshall, Steve Francis and Mike Egan, provided the guard of honour and we were delighted to do so.”

This incident just goes to show that although it was a false alarm, it is always necessary to have a fully working fire alarm installed in any premises like a church that deals with the public.