Witham firefighters appeal to residents to park considerately
Firefighters from Witham Fire Station are appealing to Witham residents to consider how they park after firefighters were delayed getting to a house fire by badly parked cars.
On-call firefighters from Witham rushed to a house fire in Greenwell Road in Witham during the early hours of Wednesday 28 July where a woman was trapped upstairs.
However, firefighters were delayed reaching the incident by almost 5 minutes due to badly parked cars in the Gershwin Estate in Witham and needed to use their sirens to wake residents up to move the cars.
Watch Manager Andy Mott from Witham Fire Station said: “During a house fire, seconds count, especially when there is somebody trapped inside the property. Any delay to an incident puts lives at risks and it’s frustrating when these delays are caused by people who park inconsiderately.
“We were really worried about the woman inside during that five minute delay and only had one route to reach the house fire. Thankfully, we did reach the incident quickly and were able to rescue the woman from her bedroom. We had to give her first aid as she’d breathed in smoke and had burns to one of her hands.
“I would urge Witham residents to consider how they park, please consider if a fire engine or other emergency vehicle can fit through when you park. Bad parking puts lives at risk.”
Firefighters visited the Gershwin Estate on Thursday 29 July to see if they could fit a fire engine through the parked cars and to chat with residents who had parked inconsiderately. Crews put leaflets on cars where they could not give advice to the owners and also used the time to give home fire safety advice to residents.
Witham Fire Station is recruiting on-call firefighters. If you live or work within 5 minutes of Witham Fire Station, you could be paid to protect your community as an on-call firefighter.
Find out more about the role and how to apply at join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call
Page last updated 31 July, 2021