Residents Evacuated After Flat Fire

23 May 2010, 09:05 | Updated: 23 May 2010, 09:09

Firefighters have been tackling a fire in a low rise block of flats in Southampton.

A call was taken by Control Room operators at 12pm on Saturday, 22 May to reports of a fire at a flat in Copse Lane, Townhill Park, Southampton. The first crews on the scene found one flat well alight and made up resources to eight pumps.
The fire was in a corner apartment of a five storey block of flats comprising a mixture of single storey apartments and maisonettes.

Officer in Charge, Group Manager Tom Carr, said: "Firefighters arrived at the scene to find a flat well alight and fought the fire from both the inside and the outside of the property, however it did spread to the bitumen surfaced roof and as a result firefighters have had to strip away parts of the roof to ensure it's safety.

"This was a severe fire and during a phased evacuation of the block, I am glad to report that all person were accounted for and there were no reported injuries."

Fire crews remained on the scene monitoring the roof to ensure the fire was unable to spread through the bitumen.

In total 55 firefighters attended the incident from Hightown, St Mary's, Hamble, Eastleigh, Botley, Bishops Waltham and Totton fire stations.

Also in attendance was St Mary's Special Equipment Unit, Redbridge's Aerial Ladder, the Incident Command Unit and the British Red Cross Fire and Emergency Support Service.

An investigation will shortly be launched to determine the cause of the fire.