INCIDENT
At 17:36 yesterday evening (Thursday, 8 October) Shrewsbury’s wholetime and on-call crews were called to an incident involving a large workshop-type garage just outside the centre of Shrewsbury.
The fire was immediately escalated to a Level 2 incident due to its complexity involving oxy-acetylene cylinders stored within.
This is a gas regularly used for welding and when handled, stored and transported correctly, is perfectly safe.
The area was evacuated, and Station Manager Adam Tempest said: “We’d like to thank residents for working with us and for their patience while we worked with emergency planning from Shropshire Council to reach a joint decision to evacuate as a precautionary measure.”
“Crews did a great job and worked hard under challenging conditions having to respond and adapt quickly to rapidly changing circumstances.
“Fires like this which may seem straightforward initially can quickly become far more complex and it shows again how important our on-call crews are to the Service and the county as a whole.”
Further on-call crews were called in from nearby areas to support this incident including Baschurch, Hodnet, Minsterley, and also Tweedale.
The wholetime crew from Telford Central were also in attendance along with specialist officers from operations, Hazmat and safety officers.
Mr Tempest added: “Thanks to the assertive actions of all the emergency services, the fire was brought under control and no one was injured in the incident.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation with a specialist fire investigation officer returning to the scene today.
Crews used breathing apparatus (BA), covering jets, ground monitors, main jets and thermal imaging cameras at the incident.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is always looking for on-call firefighters. They form a crucial part of the Service and come from all walks of life and are of all ages starting from 18.
If you, or someone you know is looking for a new challenge, they must live or work within five minutes of a station and be available for a set number of hours each week to answer 999 calls.
