Women rescued from flat fire in Lowestoft

These things always bite you on the backside when you're least expecting it.

Work has been really busy lately and the lack of shouts has, in some ways, been welcome allowing me to concentrate on getting our new business up and running.

So, whilst in a meeting at our offices, my little friend made himself known and I was apologising and disappearing out of the door in one bumbling move as the shock of my alerter going off took hold!

For a change I wasn't first in and Mark had already taken the drivers position. So I'd be in the back as a BA wearer with Simon Reeves. It would be nice to be driven for a change instead of being the chauffeur...

Maybe not though. The tip sheet was sending us to a flat fire literally just around the back of the fire station in Normanshurst Close and the two words that makes the adrenalin surge just a tad more - "persons reported" was tagged on to the end.

 It's not even a minutes drive from the station to Normanshurst Close and we could see a hive of activity outside the affected property. And once Dennis had seen the BA Entry Control board set up he shouted the customary "two to the board" order meaning Simon and I hotfooting it to BAECO just as soon as we'd pulled up.

As is usual at these sort of jobs it's organised chaos as hosereels are run out, followed by a covering jet and a whole host of other kit. No sooner had we arrived at Entry Control and we were ordered to get under air straightaway as we were going in immediately. A fire had been located but the incident was still 'persons reported'.
Simon and I got under air, did our checks and were then making our way towards the flat with our hosereel when the shout went up that a casualty had been found. We dropped the hosereel and went to the front door ready to meet the first BA team and the casualty.

The door to this property was uPVC which aren't easy to break into. The first BA team had entered through the space that the bottom panel had occupied before being removed by our 'big red key' - the door enforcer. And with the rest of the door refusing to budge, this was the way out with the casualty too. Kneeling down and reaching in to the flat we were able to grab hold of the casualty as Phil and Ben passed her out to us. Then, with the aid of another firefighter, we got the lady out to the waiting paramedic.

I think it was fairly certain that only one person was likely to have been in the property but we have to make sure. So, while Phil and Ben continued their original route around the flat, Simon and I went in through thre front door and off to the right into what we quickly discovered was the bedroom.

At this point the fire still hadn't been extinguished and we found a dark, ominous orange glow ahead of us as we proceeded into the room at low level. The rise in temperature also signalled that we were getting close to the fire!  Simon dealt with the fire as I continued to sweep around the room searching for any further casualties, thankfully not finding anyone else.

With the fire now out and windows being opened the smoke began to clear quite quickly. This allowed us to see the devastation that fire so easily creates in such a short while. We stayed in the bedroom for another 15 minutes or so damping down and checking for hotspots. We were also careful not to disturb the area too much as Fire Investigation would be arriving to try and ascertain the cause of the fire.

And with our air supply dwindling we emerged into the sunlight ready to drop our sets and relax our tunics. This new fire kit is excellent but I was feeling just a tad warm and eager to strip off and grab a bottle of water...

A good all round team effort by everyone, as usual. Special mention to Phil and Ben as the first BA team in. It's never an easy job. Gaining entry, plenty of smoke and heat, and then dragging the casualty to safety - well done guys.

Job done. Back to the fire station, clean our BA sets and then back to work to pick up where I'd left off...

Comments

[Fire Risk Assessment]

Glad to see the women was safely rescued and fire fighters managed to contain the fire quickly. I perform fire risk assessment on business premises to ensure fire safety is in place to prevent situations like this.