Surrey Local News

09/01/10 High Number Of Property Fires - Surrey Fire and Rescue Service

As the county gets to grips with the severe winter conditions, it's business as usual for Surrey's firefighters who continue to provide a round the clock service, attending a surprisingly high number of property fires whilst supporting the county's winter weather response.

Area Manager, Ian Thomson, responsible for Service Mobilising at Surrey Fire and Rescue Service said: "It's been a busy 48-hours for the service, both in terms of firefighting and requests for assistance with the snow. We've experienced an above average number of calls to our control room and responded to over 25 special service requests caused by icy conditions. This is in addition to responding to 12 priority fires during the same period, five of which were serious enough to require the attendance of over four appliances".

Chief Fire Officer, Russell Pearson added: "Our headquarters staff have been working tirelessly to ensure the availability of appliances and personnel across all stations. This has been made significantly easier thanks to the dedication of our firefighters who have made great efforts to get to their regular place of work or worked overtime whilst other colleagues safely make their way to stations to begin their shift".

The service's fleet of off-road vehicles has been made available to partners to ensure critical care services can continue to operate supporting the most vulnerable in the county – including the transportation of ambulance staff in a service 4x4 to their stranded vehicle, the safe delivery of four critical care staff to East Surrey Hospital and supported social services to carry out essential visits to 16 vulnerable people.

The service's well executed winter response strategy, which includes simple measures such as snow chains for fire appliances, has enabled the service to continue to operate as normal with minimal impact on operational cover and the quality of service.

On 6 January over 20 firefighters from Haslemere and Godalming spent 2.5 hours battling a blaze at a veterinary surgery in Chiddingfold, whilst another five appliances were dealing with an earlier house fire on the opposite side of the county in Ashtead.

With more people staying at home, residents are reminded of the following winter fire safety advice:

Take care around open fires. Use a fireguard and make sure your chimney is clean.
Keep portable heaters away from curtains and furniture and never cover them.
Store electric blankets flat or rolled up. Don't use if the wiring is old or damaged.
Keep candles upright in a suitable holder and never leave unattended. Always extinguish properly.
Always extinguish smoking materials properly and keep matches and lighters out of reach from children.
Never leave cooking unattended or throw water over a pan fire.

In the event of a fire, get out, stay out and call 999 immediately. A working smoke alarm will save you valuable minutes so test yours today.

Residents who are experiencing burst pipes or electrical problems caused by the winter weather are being advised to try to isolate the water or electrical supply and to contact local traders - not the fire service.

When enjoying the outdoors, the service has specific advice for parents and owners of livestock and domestic pets, urging them to keep children and animals away from frozen lakes and ponds. Children and animals can easily fall through the ice becoming trapped or overcome by the freezing water. Should your child or pet get into trouble, never enter the water yourself to rescue them. If available, throw an emergency buoyancy aid and call the emergency services or RSPCA (0300 1234 999) immediately.

Residents are also advised to check the SurreyAlert website for local information or tune into the local radio station. Up to date weather and travel information is available at the Met Office and Highway Agency websites.

If anyone's life is at risk as a result of the severe weather call 999 immediately to seek the assistance of the emergency services.

Further information about fire safety in the home can be dowloaded from the FireKills website.

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