Unconscious casualty rescued after trying to tackle chip pan fire  

Wednesday 17 August 2016

The emergency services received a call from a passer-by at 19:00 last night saying smoke was coming out of a window and an alarm had been actuated at a property in St Marks Road.

Two fire engines with nine firefighters rushed to the scene and on arrival officers were met by onlookers who informed them that three neighbours had attempted to rescue an unconscious man from the first floor flat but due to the smokey conditions couldn’t manage to get him down the stairs.

Two firefighters immediately made entry to the property and carried the casualty outside into fresh air to receive medical treatment by awaiting paramedics.

Two further firefighters wearing breathing apparatus then entered the flat to extinguish the fire which was contained to the cooker area before clearing the smoke by using a petrol driven fan.

The male casualty was transferred to hospital by paramedics, believed to be suffering from smoke inhalation.

Watch Commander Richard Ryan said “Traditional deep fat chip pans can cause fatal fires, so I would urge people to ‘ditch the pan’ and use either a thermostatically controlled fryer or oven chips.”