FIRE RELATED NEWS ARTICLES

[The Wise Old Owl]

House fire suspicious

POLICE were yesterday investigating a suspicious blaze at a house in Annan.

Forensic experts and CID officers were examining the scene at Kimmeter Square after fire broke out in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Nobody was in the house at the time of the blaze and firefighters had to break down a side door to gain entry.

Two Annan firecrews raced to the house at about 4.40am and extinguished the flames.

The bottom floor of the house was badly damaged by the blaze and thick smoke was billowing out the windows.

It is the second suspicious fire in Annan in just nine days.

Last Sunday a family of four escaped unhurt after fire ravaged the outside of their house.

Michael and Kirsty Riches and their two sons Keiron, aged six, and four-year-old Ryan, fled from their Wood Avenue home after neighbours alerted them to the blaze.

The fire was started in their back garden and was spreading up the outside walls of their house when they managed to escape at about 7am. At this stage there is nothing to suggest the two fires are related but police are keen to speak to anyone with any information about them.

A spokesperson said: “Police and fire services were called to a report of a flat on fire in Kimmeter Square, Annan, in the early hours of this morning, Tuesday 1 February.

“There was no-one in the flat at the time.

“Investigations have begun to establish the cause of the fire which is being treated as suspicious in the meantime.

“Anyone who was in the vicinity at around 4.40am this morning and who may have seen someone acting suspiciously is asked to contact police on 01387 252112 or any police officer. Information can also be passed to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.â€￾

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[The Wise Old Owl]

Anger at huge rise in fire chief\'s wage

FIREFIGHTERS and community leaders are angry that the salary of Cheshire's fire chief has jumped by £33,000 to more than £126,000.

Cheshire Fire Service says part of the increase was because Steve McGuirk spent nine months acting as the chief fire officer in South Yorkshire, which attracts a higher rate of pay.

But borough councillor Ian Ormerod said: 'It beggars belief.'

Cllr Ormerod (Lab, Strawberry Fields) added: 'This comes at a time when we could lose the third fire engine in Ellesmere Port and potentially up to 40 frontline firefighters. How then can Mr McGuirk get a £30,000 pay rise?

'The people of Ellesmere Port should think long and hard about this.'

Dave Williams, secretary of Cheshire Fire Brigades' Union, said: 'If these rises are true our members will be disgusted because we have faced the prospect of downsizing.'

We have been able to get hold of the salary figures under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Previously the chief fire officer and the Fire Authority refused to reveal specific salaries.

The data shows fire deputies Keith Newnes, head of community risk reduction, and Chris Turnock, head of emergency response, will receive £82,700 this financial year - up £6,350 on 2003-04.

Kathryn Foreman, deputy chief officer, corporate services, who works three days in the office and two from home, will receive £48,565 this financial year.

Cheshire Fire Service spokesman Evan Morris said: 'The salary of chief fire officers is based on the National Joint Council for Principal Fire Officers of Local Authorities.

'Deputy chief fire officers' salaries are based on 82.5% of the chief fire officer's salary.

'The reduced amount paid to one deputy chief fire officer is calculated on 62.5% of the CFO's salary on account of being a non-operational post.'

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[The Wise Old Owl]

Election challenge to a leadership that failed

LEFT ACTIVISTS in the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) were hoping that Matt Wrack would be the latest candidate to win a major union election against the current leadership this week. The result of the election for assistant general secretary was due this Friday.

Strict rules on canvassing mean that no FBU member is allowed to solicit support for a candidate in writing.

But various national newspapers have reported how in the build up to the election and during it, the FBU nationally has highlighted John McGhee — who is seen in the union as the leadership’s preferred candidate.

“John McGhee is not as publicly associated with the disastrous handling of the pay campaign as general secretary Andy Gilchrist,â€￾ says one London activist.

“But he was part of the leadership that threw away a wonderful opportunity to win and instead has left us with a defensive struggle against attacks on our conditions and on the service. Many of those who are most angry at the way the leadership handled the dispute have thrown their support behind Matt Wrack.

“A victory for him, or a substantial vote, as we head to the election for general secretary will be a real step forward for the rank and file in the union. Of course, it won’t solve all the problems firefighters and control room staff face. But it will be a step towards bringing the union back to the members and in boosting confidence at the grassroots to resist.â€￾

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[The Wise Old Owl]

Pensions row sparks strike fears

A further 20,000 local government workers are to be balloted on action in a row over pensions, amid fears of a wave of pre-election walk-outs.
Amicus said on Tuesday it will hold a strike ballot this month over plans to raise the retirement age.

Unison is already balloting members on action and the Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) is to hold a vote.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is also expected to vote on similar action within a few weeks.

Construction union UCATT is also considering a strike ballot.

The unions are protesting at plans to raise their retirement age from 60 to 65 and change early retirement rules.

Controversial plans

The changes to local government pensions are part of a wider review of all public sector pension schemes aimed at tackling rising pension costs.

Last week, the Employers' Organisation for local government spoke out against the strike threat, branding it "unjustified, precipitate and ultimately futile".

The group added that pension costs are rising as a result of longer life expectancy and those costs need to be controlled.

"We have a limited range of choices to control that cost," Rob Pinkham executive director of the Employers' Organisation said.

"Employees can pay a little more, can work a little longer or can receive a little less. Those are the only alternatives," he added.

Unison claims that the latest moves could mean that government staff face a cut of up to 30% in their pension if they retire at 60.

Wave of action?

T&G National Officer Peter Allenson added: "The government is intent on making hard-pressed council workers work longer for less."

"We reject a 'work till you drop' culture and the government should be setting an example in pension provision rather than pushing through cuts to benefits.

"Local government workers receive an average pension of just £3,800 a year, well below the average pension in the economy as a whole."

The T&G ballot will close on 8 March - the same day as Unison's ballot of 800,000 workers comes to an end.

Unison has previously warned that any action will take place soon after the poll closes, sparking fears of widespread industrial action in the run-up to the general election which is expected to take place on 5 May.

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[The Wise Old Owl]

How I have organised in my hospital

HEALTH WORKERS in one Sheffield hospital have formed a pensions action group to plan and build a range of activities over the coming weeks and months.

They aim to make sure everyone in the NHS scheme is aware that New Labour wants them to work five more years or will steal £20,000 from their pay.

Jill, who helped pull the group together, said, “Over the last week you can really see the mood changing in the hospital. People have moved from seeing pensions as something in the distant future to understanding that we have to campaign now. The group came together after we had a union meeting explaining the government’s plans.

“There are people from different sections of the hospital and a range of union experience in the group. We have a nurse, a domestic, an occupational therapist, a support worker and a member of the security staff.

“Some of us have been union activists before — others are getting involved for the first time. The phrase you hear lots going around the hospital is, ‘This wasn’t the deal we signed up to over our pensions.’ Blair wants to break a contract that we agreed.

“I’m sure people will be delighted that Unison local government, the PCS and the T&G are balloting for action. Many health workers will want to see us balloting for action too.â€

NHS workers are not the only group who are not yet balloting but who are eager for action.

Mick Shaw, firefighters’ FBU union executive member for London says, “The proposed attacks on the fire brigade pension is a major attack on our members. We are not big enough to fight this alone. We need to fight alongside all other public sector workers to have a chance of winning. If Unison strikes, the FBU should strike with them.

“All public sector workers need maximum union action to defeat this attack — and that means taking action together.â€

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[The Wise Old Owl]

Cheers for Galloway, but jeers for King

THREE HUNDRED people packed out a public meeting in east London last week and turned the heat on New Labour over threatened cuts to the fire service.

The meeting ended with a unanimous vote — barring London Fire Brigade top brass who were at the meeting — against the London fire authority’s proposal to axe an engine from Bethnal Green fire station.

The heartfelt support from residents and local trade unionists emboldened local firefighters, who had called the meeting, to step up the campaign against cuts, which affect swathes of inner London.

Last Tuesday’s meeting also saw the first public encounter between Respect MP George Galloway, who is standing in the Bethnal Green & Bow constituency in the general election, and New Labour incumbent Oona King.

On the strength of Galloway’s performance in opposing the cuts, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in London has asked him to speak at a meeting in south London next week over another station facing cuts. Oona King, however, managed to go from eliciting polite applause at the beginning of the meeting to getting booed at the end.

Galloway began by congratulating the firefighters on organising the meeting and the local paper for supporting it. He said, “I was, with the East London Advertiser, the first person in the campaign, in the early days.â€

Turning to the representative of London Fire Brigade management, who was there to argue for the cuts, he said, “And now this is an unstoppable campaign.â€

To huge applause from firefighters he added, “Why is it that whenever you see senior police officers they are calling for more resources, but senior fire managers are defending £5 million of cuts to the service?â€

He rattled off the grim statistics of fire risk in Bethnal Green, the area where two firefighters from neighbouring Whitechapel station were killed in a fire in July last year.

And, endorsing the London FBU’s campaign, he called for all the cuts across the capital to be shelved.

Matt Wrack, London regional secretary of the FBU, explained how those cuts amounted to the removal of ten appliances from inner London stations, the closure of Manchester Square station and a reduction in crewing levels on a number of engines.

Attempts by Ron Dobson, the assistant commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, to justify the cuts were met with derision from the audience, who were mainly white local residents. He claimed the removal of ten engines to outer London, which had lost them in a previous round of cuts, was “not a cutâ€.

Galloway responded, “If I take £10 from a granny’s purse and put it in my pocket, you can’t say it’s not a cut. She’s lost £10, she’s been robbed.â€

There were cheers and applause, not least from a group of pensioners.

He also pointed out that those who attacked the firefighters during their pay fight two years ago should hang their heads in shame, as the current round of cuts is a consequence of the government feeling it got away with taking on the FBU.

Oona King’s contribution was, as FBU official Paul Embury pointed out, to offer “lukewarm†support to the campaign. Her rallying cry was, “I’m not convinced the information the authority have used is accurate enough.†She refused to endorse the call by a local tube worker and RMT union safety rep to oppose all the cuts across London.

Her submission to the fire authority’s public consultation calls for “more research†over the proposal to cut an engine in Bethnal Green, rather than stating outright opposition to the scheme.

But it was in her attempts to attack George Galloway that she really fell foul of the mood of the meeting.

In response to a question from 17 year old Shirin Hirsch about how many fire engines could be bought with the £6 billion the government has spent on the war, King said, “I’m here to talk about Bethnal Green not Baghdad.â€

Then in New Labour fashion she rattled off a series of government “achievementsâ€, to groans from the audience. Those turned to boos when she claimed she listened to her constituents and that George Galloway did not.

She reinforced the impression of being wholly out of touch when she told journalists that only a quarter of the meeting were local people—the truth is that nearly everyone there lived or worked in the immediate area.

And speakers, from teachers to doctors to council housing activists to firefighters themselves, came out not only against the cuts but against their New Labour authors.

Local Respect councillor Oliur Rahman, who is standing in the neighbouring constituency, got one of the best receptions of the night when he explained how he had supported the firefighters’ campaign from the beginning. He also pointed out that not one of the 34 Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets could be bothered to turn up to the meeting.

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[The Wise Old Owl]

Mother rescues children from fire

A mother rescued her two children after a fire started in their house.
She was putting her two children, a baby and a young child, to bed when the fire started on the first floor of the house in Abingdon Road, Middlesbrough.

She used a bucket of water to try to tackle the flames and she, the children and their grandfather managed to get out of the house.

Cleveland Fire Brigade spent about an hour extinguishing the fire at the scene on Wednesday night.


A fire brigade spokeswoman said: "The mother was seeing to one child in the bedroom and went out on to the landing, which was smoke-logged.

Temporarily re-homed

"There were flames coming from a cupboard on the landing which she tried to put out with a bucket of water."

The mother is understood to have suffered superficial burns but did not go to hospital.

The fire caused substantial damage to the house and the family will have to be temporarily re-homed.

The spokeswoman said there was a smoke detector on the ground floor of the house, but not on the first floor.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

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[The Wise Old Owl]

Family tributes to firefighters


Michael Miller (left) and Jeff Wornham died while tackling a fire

Tributes have been paid by the families of two firefighters who died trying to rescue a woman from a block of flats.
Michael Millar, 26, of Stevenage, and Jeff Wornham, 28, of Royston, died trying to save Natalie Close, 32, from the fire in Herts.

A 37-year-old man remains in hospital in Stevenage.

Mr Wornham's family said he had always put others first. Mr Miller's father, Howard, said his son was proud to be a fireman and had died a hero.

Mr Miller said: "He always used to say, 'Dad, the day I get to save somebody's life will be the best day.' Now he will never know what that feeling is like.

"He was due to get married in May and he absolutely doted on his fiancée," he added.

'Extended family'

Mr Wornham lived in a bungalow on his family farm in Sandon, Herts, with his girlfriend.

In a statement, his family said: "Jeff was wholly committed to his work as a firefighter and since he was young had always put others first.

"He saw the crew he worked with as his extended family."

It added: "He really was one in a million, a great guy who touched so many lives in a positive way."

Tributes have also been paid to Ms Close, a mother of two sons.

Her family said in a statement that she was a lively person with an outgoing personality and would be sadly missed.

"We are extremely grateful to the firefighters for risking their lives to save Natalie and we send our condolences to the families of the two firemen who also lost their lives," they said.

Messages of sympathy were also left outside the fire station and block of flats for the firemen.

One note left by a child read: "You're all very brave in doing what you did."

Another read: "This is a very sad moment for this town."

About 70 people were cleared from the building when the blaze started on the 14th floor of Harrow Court in Stevenage .

A number of residents returned to the block on Thursday morning to collect a few belongings but those who live on the 14th and 15th floors were told they could not go inside the building.


The fire was at Harrow Court in Stevenage

[The Wise Old Owl]

Families left homeless after fire

A fire in Essex that left two families homeless was started by a 12-year-old boy who set light to an aerosol can, a fire service spokesman said.
Fire crews were called to the blaze at the property in Laindon, Basildon, on Wednesday afternoon.

The fire spread through the roof and engulfed several adjoining properties.

Chris Andrews, the father of one of the families left homeless, said he and his family had been left with only the clothes on their backs.


"What me and partner (Paula Graham) and my children standing have is what we own, we're left with nothing, nothing at all," Mr Andrews said.

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[The Wise Old Owl]

GORSE FIRE THREATENS THATCH

Around 60 firefighters fought a gorse blaze near East Putford on Monday night. The fire on common land was fought on all four sides by firefighters, who successfully stopped it from catching nearby properties alight.

The blaze affected a piece of land with a three-mile circumference, according to Leading Firefighter Geoff Harding.

A full-time crew from Barnstaple was joined by retained firefighters from Bideford, Appledore, Hartland, Torrington, Holsworthy with a command vehicle from Ilfracombe and an 8,000-litre bowser.

At one point the firemen had to douse a thatched roof to prevent sparks catching.

Mr Harding said: "The fire started at about midnight and lasted for about four hours.

"We have gone up to this type of thing quite often in the past, but the local people were obviously quite worried, but they came out and we managed to reassure them."

Nobody was hurt and no property was damaged by the fire.

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