Positivity: Operator praised after flat fire rescue

From the UK:

23 April 2007 | 06:55

A HEROIC telephone operator has spoken of her delight after she helped in the dramatic rescue of six people who were locked in a burning Essex flat.

Senior officers from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service last night praised the actions of fire control operator Gill Southgate, whose quick thinking kept the group calm and safe while they waited for fire crews as the second floor flat, in Wood Road, Heybridge, burned.

Three children, aged two, eight and 10, as well as a woman and two men, aged 23 and 24, were rescued from the flat by firefighters at about 4.20 yesterday morning after a fire started while they slept.

Mrs Southgate, 53, said that although she didn’t see herself as a hero, it was good to know that by staying calm and following her training she had helped save lives.

She said: “I don’t feel like a star - I’m just pleased that it had a good outcome. I think it was the fact that I kept the family on the line giving them advice.

“They were locked in the flat so it wasn’t just a case of ‘get out and that’s the end of the call’.

“I told them what to do and to open a window, not wide open, but enough to get fresh air in, and to turn a light on so the crews can see what room they were in.”

She said it was the first time in more than a year in the job that she had had such a call, but that the training had just “taken over”.

Mrs Southgate advised the group to move from where they were in a room without a door to one of the bedrooms, put a mattress or damp towels down across the closed door and open a window.

She kept the woman busy by telling her to put socks and clothes on the children who were in their pyjamas.

She added: “This is what we have got to do. Someone did say to me last night that if I never take another call like this in my career, I will have done my job well. It’s quite a satisfying feeling.”

Investigating officer, Danny Bruin, said the incident had been triggered after the woman and children went to bed at around 2am, leaving her male visitors to sleep on the couch.

The investigation revealed that one of the men had been smoking and had either fallen asleep or not extinguished “smoking materials” fully.

Ambulance paramedics attended the scene and, after checking out all of the people involved, decided no-one needed hospital treatment.

Station Officer Bruin said there were “a number of lessons” to be learned from the incident.

He said: “I have no doubt that had it not been for the professionalism of the control operator in providing brilliant safety and protection advice and instruction to this woman, we would be looking at a job here this morning that involved fatalities.”

“The woman was fire-aware because she had considered smoke detection in the house.

“She removed an electric smoke detector fitted in the flat and replaced it with another but, unfortunately, because of where it was positioned, it became an annoyance and had been removed and put in a drawer.”

He said that when fire broke out the woman was unable to find the key to the back door, which would have led the group to safety, and the flat was fitted with double glazing but the windows were locked.

He added: “I can’t stress enough the need to have correct smoke detection equipment, sited properly and in good working order.