Disabled Woman Dies In Peterborough Fire

11 July 2014, 10:55 | Updated: 11 July 2014, 11:36

A woman in her 50s has died in a flat fire in Peterborough.

At 5.38pm two crews were called to a house fire in Risby, North Bretton, Peterborough.

The first crew arrived at 5.49pm and discovered a fire in a ground floor flat. The second crew arrived at 5.53pm. Wearing breathing apparatus they extinguished the fire using hose reels and a jet by 6.32pm. Positive pressure ventilation fans were used to clear smoke.

Some damage was caused to the flat above.

A woman in her 50s was deceased at the scene.

Fire investigations are being carried out to determine the cause of the fire.

Chief Fire Officer Graham Stagg said: "Three crews - one from Dogsthorpe, one from Stanground and an on-call crew - responded to the incident immediately and arrived in the time we normally would, with the same number of crews as usual, had FBU members not been striking. The on-call crew was lreturned to base as it was not required at the scene.

"Unfortunately a disabled female resident was already deceased on our arrival.

"This is exactly the sort of incident we are trying to prevent by working with partners and other organisations in Cambridgeshire.

"In one week we have tragically seen the death of two vulnerable residents with medical conditions. These are the very people we are trying to identify in our community so we can help and educate them about fire risks in their home to prevent these fires from happening.

"If you know someone in your street, on your estate or in your community who you think is vulnerable, please, contact the fire service so we can ensure everyone in our community has the best chance to be protected against fire.

"Our thoughts go out to the friends and family of the victims at this time."

Sir Peter Brown, Chairman of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority, added: "Yesterday's fatality in Peterborough is a tragedy that everyone will come to terms with. On behalf of CFRS I extend our condolences to the family of the lady who died.

"I know the members of our service reacted in their usual professional way to this call and maximum efforts were made to deal with the incident.

"I am proud of our firefighters and resilience teams who continue to do everything to protect local residents from such tragedies."