Fire survival advice saves three lives

Fire survival advice given by Fire Control Operators helped save the lives of three people from a fire in Plymouth on Saturday morning (9 May).

Smoke alarms alerted the three adults to the fire in Chaddlewood Avenue, St Judes, early this morning and they immediately called 999.

The fire on the ground floor of the house had trapped the woman and two men inside upstairs, so as fire crews were on their way, the Control operator kept them on the phone until they were rescued to provide advice.

They were initially in separate rooms, so they were advised to go into the same room to make the subsequent rescue quicker.

As smoke started to rise into the room from the fire below, they were told to open the window, block the smoke coming in under the doorway and stay low to the ground where the smoke was less dense.

The fire crews arrived and pitched a ladder at the first floor window to rescue them. The woman was struggling to breath at this point, and all three were taken to hospital by ambulance.

Chief Fire Officer Lee Howell said: “As fire service professionals we often play down the significant impact we can make at incidents like this – but today three people are still alive because of the professionalism, skill and dedication of the control room operators and fire crews.

“The smoke alarms gave them early warning of the fire and the survival advice they were given on the phone kept them safe until the quick arrival and actions of the crews. Without these three elements all being in place, the consequences could have been very different.”

Crews from Greenbank, Camels Head and Crownhill attended the incident and the house was well alight on their arrival. After rescuing the three people inside, firefighters tackled the blaze using jets.