A man was today confirmed to have died in a severe fire which completely destroyed his Shropshire bungalow.
A total of 40 firefighters from three fire and rescue services were called to the property in the village of Alveley, near Bridgnorth, yesterday.
Multiple 999 calls were made by neighbours at around 3.30pm (Wednesday, December 12th) as fire took hold in the 15 metre by 10 metre detached bungalow at Millfields, Birds Green.
Local firefighters from Bridgnorth and Cleobury Mortimer were quickly on the scene. They were joined by colleagues from two neighbouring fire and rescue services with crews from Stourbridge in the West Midlands and Wombourne in Staffordshire.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer John Redmond confirmed that a man was rescued from the burning bungalow by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus but he was confirmed dead at the scene.
A total of six firefighters wearing breathing apparatus searched the property with three water jets used to douse the severe blaze which totally destroyed the bungalow.
Fire crews were at the property for more than two hours before the fire was fully extinguished. Firefighters from Albrighton were sent to relieve crews and remain at the scene overnight.
Area Manager Martin Timmis, Head of Prevention for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, said that it had been a “very severe fire which appears to have developed rapidly.”
He added: “It’s currently too early to determine the cause of the fire but a joint police and fire investigation team are on site today. It is a tragic loss of life and we don’t know yet what has happened in these particularly sad circumstances”.
“I would appeal to every householder to make the effort to ensure they have smoke alarms which work installed in their properties. They give an early warning if a fire does break out to give people time to escape. And look in on neighbours too – please encourage them to have working smoke alarms.”
Firefighters are visiting more than 300 properties in the area today (Thursday) to give out fire prevention advice and to encourage people, particularly the elderly living alone, to have a free home fire risk assessment carried out by firefighters to give them extra protection.
For more information contact the Community Fire Safety team at Shrewsbury fire HQ on 01743 260 200.
