5 people rescued from fire after gas cylinder ignites
Five people are recovering in hospital after a fire broke out at a flat in Weston-super-Mare.
Firefighters attended the incident on Ashcombe Road on Monday 14th May.
It is thought that the fire started when a gas cylinder was being changed on a portable camping stove in a ground floor flat. A woman from that property managed to escape before firefighters arrived at the scene.
A spokesperson for Avon Fire and Rescue Service said: “The occupants of the first floor managed to get out onto a flat roof at the rear of the property as their normal exit was blocked and firefighters used ladders to rescue them. All five were taken to hospital as a precaution after breathing in smoke. Firefighters also rescued three pets, a dog, rabbit and guinea pig from the flats.”
Garages destroyed in village fire
A huge fire broke out in a row of garages in Langford, Bedfordshire at around 6pm on 3rd March.
Many homes had to be evacuated by police and the village’s main road closed. Bedfordshire and Luton Fire Service attended the incident.
A spokesperson for the fire service said: “There was a block of four brick garages that were on fire at the rear of the houses. We sent two fire crews from Biggleswade and one from Shefford. We also had other support vehicles from Bedford that were there because of the scale of the incident. One of the garages was thought to have cylinders in it of liquid petroleum gas and acetylene. When cylinders are involved there is the potential that they could explode and in that situation we evacuate the vicinity. People were evacuated in the 200m vicinity to make sure that if they were to explode there would be no injuries. We had a number of ground monitors and jets. Water was put on to the fire and it was declared safe at 1.36am.”
Due to the buildings containing gas cylinders, it took fire crews longer to control the fire, but residents were allowed to go back to their homes, three hours after they were evacuated.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Gas cylinder explodes in car boot
A man was rescued from his burning car after a leaking gas cylinder exploded in the boot of his car.
The man was in his car at around 5pm on 18th May in Stanley Park road in Wallington when he lit a cigarette, triggering an explosion that blew out all of the cards windows.
Two men who were in a truck carrying a skip, saw the incident and managed to pull the man from the burning vehicle after it crashed into a signpost.
Rob Cummings from Wallington fire station said: “I would say they have saved this mans life. The car was completely on fire when we arrived, and if he was trapped in the car no-one would have survived that.”
The driver of the car suffered burns to his face and was taken to St Helier hospital after being treated at the scene by London Ambulance Service.