Fire crews' struggle to rescue woman from burning Brighton flat (From The Argus)
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Fire crews' struggle to rescue woman from burning Brighton flat
9:57am Thursday 15th November 2012 in News By Kimberly Middleton, Acting chief reporter
Firefighters at Park Crescent Terrace, Brighton, this morning after the majority of cars were removed
A woman in her 50s was rescued from a Brighton flat fire after a passer-by spotted flames flickering in the window.
But fire crews wasted vital minutes struggling to get to the scene because cars were parked on both side of Park Crescent Terrace last night.
Neighbours feared the woman was dead when she was carried unconscious from her first floor home, but said she regained consciousness before being taken to hospital.
She is believed to be in a serious condition after breathing in smoke fumes for up to an hour before the blaze was spotted at 11.20pm on Wednesday, November 14. Fire crews said her legs have also been severely burnt.
Watch manager Richard Chamberlain said: "The cars delayed us getting to the scene – it should have taken us two minutes, it ended up taking about eight.
"We had to damage our fire appliance and two cars.
"It's frustrating because it stopped us getting into the building as quickly as we should have, every minute counts."
The fire is thought to have been started by a tealight.
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Comments(8)
tangerine.tabby
says...
1:05pm Thu 15 Nov 12
getThisCoalitionOut
says...
2:31pm Thu 15 Nov 12
KellyBeans
says...
5:55pm Thu 15 Nov 12
angrymonkey
says...
7:56pm Thu 15 Nov 12
alyn, southwick
says...
7:00am Fri 16 Nov 12
KellyBeans wrote:Well to be honest double yellow or no lines you should not obstruct the road!
Well to be honest, I live nearby also and there shouldn't be single yellow lines on one side of the road if they don't want people to park there! Otherwise no-one can really complain except maybe to the council to ask why they put them there in the first place! And no they shouldn't be ticketed as they were not illegally parked!
It was worse on new years day - I'm a professional carer and frequently have to travel down that road.
Hove Actually
says...
8:10am Fri 16 Nov 12
sky451
says...
12:03pm Fri 16 Nov 12
Hove Actually wrote:I live on Park Crescent Place and often park on Park Crescent. The street has parking bays along the right hand side of the road and a single yellow line on the left allowing cars to park between 6pm and 9am during the week and all day Sunday. Cars parking on the yellow line are fine so long as they have two wheels on the pavement. There is adequate room for a car or van to pass but evidently the fire engines are too wide.
Were the cars parked illegally or is the road very narrow with parking bays blocking the road?
To be honest there are narrower streets around here (Brewer street for example which vans struggle to pass through and a small lorry or fire engine would have no chance) and perhaps the fire service should invest in some narrower vehicles as I doubt it is the first time they have had trouble in a town like Brighton.
I saw one of the cars which was damaged the next day. I would not have said it was blocking the road at all and was parked perfectly legally.
If the people who have cars covered in cobwebs with flat tyres got rid of their vehicles and freed up space for people who actually use their cars then fewer people would need to use the single yellow lines in the first place! I have lived here almost two years and there are a couple of cars which have not moved in that time.
John Steed says...
12:57pm Thu 15 Nov 12