Contingency crews rescue trapped children during fourth day of fire strike

6 january 2014.
West Yorkshire Fire Service Assistant Chief Officer Dave Walton at Birkenshaw Fire HQ. — 6 january 2014. West Yorkshire Fire Service Assistant Chief Officer Dave Walton at Birkenshaw Fire HQ.

Contingency crews rescued trapped children and put out fires in the open during the fourth day of an eight-day firefighter strike yesterday (Thursday).

Two periods of Fire Brigades Union (FBU) industrial action took place between 6am and 8am and between 5pm and 7pm.

In total West Yrorkshire Fire Service received 38 calls throughout the two periods and attended 14 incidents. Some calls were of a minor nature and did not require attendance and some were duplicates. No emergencies went unattended.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Dave Walton said: “We are now over half way through the eight day series of strikes and fortunately they have passed without major incident.

“We are not complacent as both the continuing hot weather and the predicted storms can present a serious challenge to our limited emergency response resources, alongside the day to day incidents that occur.

“Our ‘Take Extra Care’ message remains hugely important and will help us to deliver our contingency plan over the next four days.”

Between 5pm and 7pm the service received 35 calls and attended 12 incidents.

Incident of note were:

At 5.02pm the service attended a fire in the open near Thornton Grammar School, Bradford.

At 5.13pm a child had been accidently locked in a car in Lime Tree Square, Saltaire. The child was released by fire crews.

At 5.20pm a child had been accidently locked inside a flat in Windhill, Shipley. The child was released before the arrival of fire crews.

At 5.20pm they were called after a cow was trapped in a gate in High Eldwick, Bingley, however the cow was released before the arrival of fire crews.

At 6.34pm they attended a bin store on fire in Bayswater Terrace, Harehills, Leeds.

As well as the above the service also attended a mattress on fire in a field in South Kirkby, Wakefield, and four more fires in the open in Dewsbury, Allerton (Bradford), Eastmoor (Wakefield) and Gildersome (Leeds).

They also had two automatic fire alarms in Beeston, Leeds, and another in Westway, Garforth, Leeds.

During the earlier strike, between 6am and 8am, the service received three calls and attended two incidents - a false alarm in Huddersfield and a fire in the open in Judy Woods, Bradford.

The contingency arrangements allowed for 22 fire engines during the morning strike and 21 during the early evening strike. The full fleet is 54.