Monday 17 December 2007
19.29 -
Coniston Road, Patchway, Bristol
Patchway crews were faced with a tricky task when they arrived
at this incident - a kitchen fire in a first floor flat, of a
two-storey block. There were six flats in total, meaning
Patchway was faced with an unknown amount of residents needing
their assistance.
The fire started after a grill pan caught alight and quickly
spread to the surrounding kitchen. Unfortunately the kitchen
door had been removed, which meant the fire spread unchecked into
the hallway and smoke into the adjoining rooms. As the
occupant, a man in his late 20s, evacuated the house, he left the
front door open, which led to smoke filtering into the communal
hallway.
Firefighters found the man outside and immediately administered
first aid and oxygen therapy. Meanwhile other crew members
entered the property. A couple of firefighters helped a
family of three, who also lived on the first floor, to safety
through the smoke, while others went on to tackle the fire wearing
Breathing Apparatus and using a hose reel. The fire developed
rapidly, breaking through the ceiling, which led to concern that it
had entered the roof space. Thankfully, with the help of the
thermal image camera, crews determined that they had caught the
blaze in time.
At the same time crews outside were trying to help a young
couple who were at the window of their flat - the remaining first
floor property. These occupants couldn't come out of their
door as is was directly opposite the flat on fire and their was too
much smoke. A triple extension ladder was put to the window
and three terrier pups were lowered to safety as the couple were
assisted down the ladder by the crew members outside
In total 12 occupants were rescued or led to safety by the
firefighters. The occupant of the flat on fire was taken to
hospital and three other occupants were given oxygen therapy,
although they did not need to go to hospital. All residents
were allowed back into their flats after the smoke had been cleared
using the Positive Pressure Ventilation fan.
Crews fitted smoke alarms in some of the flats and booked HFSVs for
the remaining.