Fire breaks out in loft at home in St Martin’s
IT WAS fortunate a St Martin’s property owner was home on Saturday evening when a fire broke out in their loft after it came to light that the property did not have smoke alarms.
The property owner called the emergency services to their Les Camps du Moulin home at about 5.45pm, after discovering the fire.
Watch commander Tom Chapman from Blue Watch said that two fire appliances and nine personnel were called in.
‘We sent in two BAs [firefighters in breathing apparatus] with a hose reel to investigate, and they extinguished the fire,’ he said.
Firefighters then damped down the area and turned over the ashes, to ensure there were no remaining sparks. The roof space was also ventilated.
Everyone had evacuated from the property before the firefighters arrived and no one was hurt.
Mr Chapman said it was fortunate there had been people at home, as there had been no smoke detectors.
The firefighters fitted smoke detectors at the property before they left.
After dealing with the fire, the firefighters who had been inside the property removed their fire kit, so it could be decontaminated back at the station. Mr Chapman said following the Grenfell fire in London, it was discovered that the smoke on the firefighters kit was carcinogenic, so now firefighters across the country were moving to follow new practices to decontaminate their kit as soon as possible after a fire.
The road was shut between Ruette Rabey and the back entrance of the former Bella Luce hotel while the fire was dealt with.
The road reopened just after 8.30pm.
