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ARSON ATTACK ON FLATS
EADT - 17th July 2008
POLICE today hailed a quick-thinking rescuer a hero after he alerted residents to a fierce blaze consuming their building before helping to catch a woman as she leapt to safety.
The man has been credited with saving the lives of at least two people trapped inside the blazing block of flats in Trimley St Martin after the fire broke out early today.
Suffolk police said he raised the alarm after he spotted the fire spreading through the block of six flats in Jasmine Close just before 12.15am.
After alerting the fire brigade, he was able to wake a 20-year-old woman inside one of the first floor flats by shouting from outside and then caught her after she was forced to jump from a first-floor window.
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The scene of the fire in Jasmine Close, Trimley St Martin |
Firefighters from Felixstowe and Ipswich were called to fight the blaze in the stairwell and landing of the building, which is made up of six flats.
A spokesman for the Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said when they arrived they found the first floor “heavily involved in fire”.
Suffolk police said that it had launched an investigation into the cause of the blaze and was treating it as arson with intent to endanger life.
It is thought the fire began when a settee or chair in the stairwell was set alight.
As well as rescuing a second person from the first floor, firefighters forced their way into a third flat but found it was not occupied.
The fire was under control by 1.20am.
The three first floor flats suffered extensive smoke damage, with the repair bill estimated at about £20,000.
The ground floor flats were not damaged and the residents of those flats were allowed to return to their homes after the fire was extinguished.
'THIS BLAZE COULD HAVE KILLED MANY'
Date : 31.03.08
Fire fighters say arsonists put the lives of hundreds at risk by setting fire to a city tower block.
Police are today investigating the blaze at Great Thornton Street flats in west Hull.
Fire crews were called to the scene after someone set fire to furniture in a stairwell at about 3.45pm yesterday.
Seven fire engines were sent to battle the blaze as smoke filled the building.
Light-fittings melted and fell to the floor and windows were blown out.
Smoke spread from the first floor to the top of the 14-storey tower block.
About 10 fire fighters in breathing apparatus opened windows and used ventilation fans to drive the smoke from the building.
A pensioner had to be given oxygen for smoke inhalation, but nobody else was injured.
Resident Yvonne Young, 52, has lived in the building for five years.
She said: "My neighbour knocked on my door and said there was a fire on the first floor.
"We had smoke in the flat. We could have been burnt alive.
"Because of things like this, I want to get out of here."
PC Dave Towers was at the scene after the blaze.
He said: "We take this very seriously. Hundreds of people live here and there could easily have been multiple deaths from this. It is a very serious crime.
"We need to hear from any witnesses or anyone who has seen anything suspicious"
Glenn Ramsden, of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Without doubt this fire has put very many lives in danger.
"Humberside Fire and Rescue Service will do everything in their power to take action against the perpetrators.
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