Firefighters target Polish community
A campaign targeting members of the Polish community has been launched this week after crews from north Warwickshire attended a kitchen fire in a home with no smoke alarm.
The main aim of the campaign, which is being run by Warwickshire County Councils Fire and Rescue Service, is to provide local communities with key fire safety information and to promote their Free Home Fire Safety Check service. Throughout the week firefighters have been putting leaflets through doors and speaking to people within the local community providing life saving fire safety information.
The incident took place on Monday 24 September at Long Street in Atherstone. Crews were called out at 20:08 and fire appliances from both Atherstone and Polesworth attended. On arrival at the scene the cooking appliance was well alight and the flat was heavily smoke logged.
Firefighter, Andy Freeman said:
“We want to highlight this incident because the fire started when the occupant fell asleep, leaving food still cooking under the grill. There was no smoke alarm present and although the occupant managed to wake up and call us, he was very lucky. If he hadn’t woken up when he did, then it could have been a very different story.
”We have now fitted smoke alarms in the occupants home and have advised him on how to reduce the risk of having a fire in the future. We are concerned that some members of the community are not aware of the home fire safety check service we provided and we are hoping that this incident will help us to promote the fact that the service is available for Free to people with young families and more vulnerable members of our communities.”