Major fire at Glasgow Steiner School in Yorkhill
A major fire at an independent school in the west end of Glasgow broke out last week and up to 60 children were led to safety.
55 firefighters and 10 appliances were deployed to prevent the fire spreading and Incident Commander, ACO Lewis Ramsay said: “The initial crews have worked tirelessly to tackle the blaze and operations are ongoing to contain the fire.
“Members of the local community can be assured that fire crews will continue to work relentlessly until this incident is brought to a safe conclusion.
“An effective multi-agency approach with police and the local authority is ongoing to manage the incident and reassure local residents.”
Following the evacuation, pupils were taken to a local community centre. No-one is thought to have been injured.
A joint investigation by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue and Strathclyde Police will determine the cause of the blaze that is not yet known.
Lincolnshire smoking fire deaths prompt warning
New fire service figures have been released and it has been revealed that cigarettes caused every fatal house fire in Lincolnshire in 2012.
Although the figure of accidental dwelling fires fell to 212 compared with 365 in 2011 and 380 in 2010, fatalities rose from one to three.
It was added by the fire service that those involved in smoking-related fires often needed more medical help and officers said such incidents tended to happen as people were falling asleep and appealed for smokers to take care.
The Fire Safety Manager said: “These accidental fires often start when people are at their most vulnerable, which is why they are so often fatal.
“So, we are trying to encourage people to not smoke when feeling tired, especially in bed or lounging in a chair. And to remember that if they have been drinking alcohol or taking medication, they may feel drowsy.”
It is advised also that smokers should always use an ashtray, never smoke in bed and make sure the contents of ashtrays were completely extinguished.
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
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.”
Father hospitalised after saving disabled son from Northampton house fire
Earlier this week a father helped rescue his disabled son from a house fire in a Northampton estate and is believed to have suffered burns to his shoulder.
At 8.30pm on Tuesday night a number of properties in Arbour View Court, Thorplands, were evacuated after a blaze started in a two-storey house.
It is believed that the father rescued his three children, two of whom have cerebral palsy, before firefighters arrived who then confirmed that the family managed to escape the house before emergency services arrived.
Police have said a fire investigation is continuing and a cause of the blaze is not yet known.