Kent firefighters urge locals to test their smoke alarms
Kent firefighters have issued a safety warning after three house fires broke out in one night in homes that did not have working smoke alarms.
Fire crews attended 3 incidents at Chartham Hatch, Whitstable and Sheppey. Luckily, no-one was seriously injured in the fires.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service’s Risk Reduction Manager Mick Smith said: “We cannot impress upon people enough the importance of fitting smoke alarms. The benefits of these small devices are endless, especially when residents are asleep and most vulnerable. If you do have a fire, they will alert you very early on and give you vital seconds in which to leave your home and call the fire service. Take steps now to protect you and your family from fire and make sure your smoke alarms are working, maintained and tested once a week, and never, ever remove the batteries.”
At the Fire Training Academy, we encourage you to get into the habit of testing your fire alarms every Tuesday – just remember to ‘Test it Tuesday’!
Join us on Facebook and Twitter and we will remind you to do just that, every Tuesday.
Huge blaze at Sheffield business premises
Thirty firefighters attended an incident at a building on Broadfield Road in Heeley, Sheffield on Sunday 2nd October.
The fire broke out at around 6.45pm and was attended by crews from Central, Mansfield Road and Lowedges.
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “The fire broke through the roof space of the building and a massive amount of smoke was coming from the building, which is why some roads were closed. It is a two-storey building and gas and electricity supplies were isolated for the safety of our firefighters. No-one is believed to have been in the building at the time. This was a large fire and firefighters worked very hard to quickly bring the blaze under control. An investigation will be carried out into the cause of the fire in due course.”
Nearby roads were closed during the incident due to the plume of smoke coming from the fire but most had re-opened by 9.15pm.
An investigation into the cause of the fire will be carried out.
80 firefighters called to tower block blaze
80 firefighters attended a fire at Markham Tower, in Bowers Avenue, Mile Cross on Monday 26th September.
Brenda Arthur, Norwich City Council leader said: “We would like to thank our staff and all our tenants for remaining calm and carrying out our evacuation procedure to the letter. It’s a tribute to everyone involved that no-one was hurt. We understand this is an upsetting time for all those affected by the fire. Some of our tenants have already indicated they would like to stay with family and friends while repairs are carried out. We will work out the best form of accommodation for those who can’t call on relatives so that everyone can be looked after properly until they can get back to their homes.”
The city council has confirmed that one flat is badly damaged by fire and 10 flats have suffered severe water damage. There appears to be no serious structural damage, and only minimal smoke damage to rest of the property.
The fire is thought to have started in an eighth floor flat although the person living in the flat was not at home at the time.
Stuart Horth, incident commander from Norfolk Fire Rescue Service, said the fire was put out within 10 minutes just as it was starting to spread to floor above. He praised the work of the fire crews and also the swift actions of the people living in the building who evacuated the building before emergency services arrived and helped avert a more serious situation.
David Freeman, witness the fire. He said: “We heard shouting telling us to get out and when we did we saw smoke and within five minutes the window had blown out. We could see a few flames out the bottom of the window at first but within a few minutes they were huge and the whole flat was obviously engulfed. It was terrifying and we were all worried in case anyone was in there. It was panic, really.”
Dozens of firefighters called to Buckie blaze
Dozens of firefighters were called out to tackle a blaze at a disused supermarket in Buckie.
Grampian Fire and Rescue Service attended the incident at Haldanes in Newlands Lane in the Moray town at about 7:00am on 14th September.
A local businessman who witnesses the fire, Steve Thornton said: “I live on the outskirts of Buckie and I could see the smoke. It looked like it was coming from my shop and I started to panic. However it was the shop 100 yards down the road. There were fire engines and ambulances. There was a lot of smoke, and quite a big bang. It was quite dramatic.”
There were no casualties reported and the fire was under control by the early afternoon. An investigation into the cause of the fire will be carried out.
Blaze at Blackpool hotel
A hotel in Blackpool was evacuated after a fire broke out in the building’s laundry room.
Firefighters from St Annes fire station attended the blaze at the Glendower Hotel on the North Promenade at around 5.30pm on September 10th.
A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: “It was accidental. The hotel did a great job of evacuating the premises by following the hotel procedures. One person suffering effects of smoke inhalation was taken to hospital for a precautionary check up.”
The laundry room was heavily smoke damaged after kitchen laundry that had been left in a dryer had ignited. It has been reported that one man taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.