Fire and Rescue deal with ‘an unprecedented morning’
From sharp slates flying off the Town Church roof to a seafront car fire to trees blocking roads – Guernsey Fire & Rescue’s blue watch was non-stop yesterday.
The team came on shift at 8am and got their first call at 8.13am. The constant calls only started to ease at 4pm.
Station manager Phil Kilgour said the team had worked hard.
‘We had quite an unprecedented morning,’ he said.
They attended to help at property floodings and to help move cars as the sea water came over the sea wall at Havelet and reached the height of the car sills.
While they were there, a car fire started.
‘It was quite surprising,’ Mr Kilgour said.
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish it and they are still investigating the cause.
There were trees and branches down across the island and Mr Kilgour said firefighters helped remove some of the loose branches in a bid to try and keep roads clear.
He urged motorists not to go out in bad weather. Firefighters attended two vehicle collisions during the day.
‘We also had to contend with razor-sharp tiles flying off the Town Church roof into Church Square,’ Mr Kilgour said.
‘We mobilised our turntable ladder to remove the loose slates.’
He said the team trained for these sorts of conditions, and had assessed the wind before putting the ladder up.
The crew also went to help with roof problems at the Monkey Puzzle pre-school at Les Cotils.
Mr Kilgour said while it had been an exhausting day with no breaks, there had been no complaints.
‘Their priority is putting the island and the community first.’
