A VERY STRETCHED fire service has been hard at work throughout New Year’s Eve and the early hours of New Year’s Day, the London Fire Brigade revealed yesterday.
Referring to New Year’s Eve, it said: ‘Firefighters helped 60 people evacuate a residential block of flats following a fire in one of the flats on The Brandon Estate, Royal Road, Oval this evening.
‘35 firefighters and officers from stations including Peckham, Dockhead, Clapham, Old Kent Road and New Cross stations attended the incident. ‘The Brigade was called at 19.33 and the fire was under control at 22.28.
• ‘Ten fire engines and 72 firefighters and officers were called to a fire at a pub on the High Street in Acton. 340 people and 12 staff evacuated the pub before the Brigade arrived. Six people were rescued from the first floor via a short external ladder.
‘Half of the ground floor of the building was alight. The first and second floors, including the roof of the three storey building, have been gutted by the fire. The Brigade was called at 00.36 and was over by 04.42. Fire crews from Acton, Chiswick, Park Royal, Hammersmith, Richmond, Willesden, North Kensington and Wembley are at the scene.
• ‘Six fire engines were called to a fire in a block of flats on Crownstone Road in Brixton this afternoon. The fire broke out in a five-roomed flat on the fifth floor of an eight storey building. Half of the flat has been damaged by fire. Fortunately no one was injured and the residents self-evacuated before the Brigade arrived. Residents living in the remaining properties also left the building before the Brigade arrived.
‘Station Manager Lee Sparks said: “As I arrived on the scene flames were coming out of the side of the building. Fire crews wearing breathing apparatus worked really hard to bring the fire under control quickly.” Fire crews from Brixton, Clapham, West Norwood, Peckham and Lambeth attended the blaze. The Brigade was called at 11.57 and the incident was over by 13.46.
• ‘Ten fire engines and 72 firefighters and officers were called to a fire at a car service centre on Forest Road in Walthamstow this evening. Three quarters of the ground floor of a car workshop was damaged by fire and half of the mezzanine floor. Two cars and a van were also destroyed by the fire. One propane cylinder exploded before the Brigade arrived and fire crews safely removed two other cylinders.’
