Much Wenlock welcomed its brand new fire engine at a ceremony held at the town’s fire station which will make the rural area safer during fires and major incidents.

It was the weekly drill night for the town’s 11 firefighters but also in attendance were the Mayor and Mayoress of Much Wenlock, members of Much Wenlock Town Council and Shropshire’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer.

Shropshire firefighters are ready for any emergency and in Market Drayton they have been fine tuning their skills to deal with a chemical spillage.

The on call fire crew arrived at their fire station for their weekly drill night to be called to action to cope with an exercise involving the outbreak of an unknown chemical in a building where all but one of the occupants had escaped.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is urging residents in Shropshire to protect themselves against “the deadly threat” of carbon monoxide poisoning and ensure they have a CO alarm in the home as part of Gas Safety Week 2017 from Sept 18 to 25th

They want the public to be aware about the main symptoms of “the silent killer” often caused by a faulty boiler or cooker, blocked flue, chimney or vent.

More women are wanted as “on call” county firefighters in a continuing campaign being run by Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

With just six per cent of female firefighters, the service wants to encourage more women to join with the latest of a series of “taster” days being held at Market Drayton Fire Station on Saturday, September 16 from 9.30am to 12.30.

Watch Manager Mark Smith says: “Once the fire kit is worn, the public don’t know which are men and women, except many tend to assume they are all males, which is wrong.

It was a fun day out for all the family at Wellington Fire Station’s annual open day.

Children got the chance to check out the fire hoses and climb aboard a number of fire engines.

They also learned potentially lifesaving skills of how to escape from a house fire with a walk through a “smoke house,” a specially built tent used to educate them about what to do in case of a house fire.

Firefighters were on hand to give out fire prevention advice, including the necessity for every home to have one smoke alarm on each floor of the house.