News

Date
17 January 2012 Police investigate car fire in Woodside

Police officers are investigating following a car fire in Woodside Telford at the weekend.

The incident occurred outside an address on Wantage, Woodside Telford on Sunday 15 January and police believe the car was set alight deliberately.

At around 8.15pm, it appears that an unknown individual smashed a window on a silver Peugeot 206 that was parked on the street and then used matches or a lighter to set fire to the back seat.
13 January 2012 Fire Minister opens upgraded Shropshire Fire HQ

The Fire Minister was in Shropshire to officially open the county’s newly renovated fire HQ.

Bob Neill MP was given a tour of the new control room - the first in the UK to open after the cancellation of the failed regional control project.

He was shown the state of the art equipment necessary for rapid mobilisation of fire engines answering 999 calls across the county.

The Minister also opened the newly renovated Shrewsbury fire station and emergency vehicle workshops vital to keep the county’s fire appliances and vehicles on the road.
10 January 2012 Newport firefighters in street survey

Shropshire firefighters took to the streets to personally ask the taxpaying public for their views on how their local fire service should look in the future as it faces unprecedented financial cuts.

Retained firefighters – the local fire professionals who also have other full time jobs – who operate out of 22 of the county's 23 fire stations volunteered to ask residents, shoppers and passers-by for their thoughts in the wake of a potential closure of county fire stations due to the economic crisis.
10 January 2012 Be Bright Be Seen this New Year

With a couple of months worth of dark nights and mornings still ahead of us the Safer Roads Partnership are again reminding people when out walking, cycling or running near the roads to think about whether they can be seen by other road users.
10 January 2012 Fire warning for portable heaters

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service and Telford and Wrekin Council have issued a joint warning to householders to take extra care with portable heaters after a Telford family narrowly escaped a house fire which ripped through their home.

Mum Rebecca Coffey managed to lower her three children, including a six week old baby, to safety from a bedroom window as her partner Ian escaped out of the kitchen window.

Fire investigators say the severe blaze ripped through the home within minutes of a settee catching on fire after a portable halogen heater had been placed nearby.
06 January 2012 Police appeal over Worfield Farm arson

Police investigating a farm fire near Bridgnorth which caused around £350,000 damage, today issued an appeal for information.

A large Dutch farm and seven items of farm machinery were severely damaged in the blaze at Cranmere Farm, Worfield.

It's believed the fire was deliberately started between 10.45pm on Sunday (Jan 1) and 1.30am the following day.

Police Constable Catherine Rapson, the investigating officer, said today: "It's strongly suspected this is an arson attack and I am appealing for any information which might help identity those responsible.
03 January 2012 Almost 200 emergency calls for fire service in December

The Christmas holiday has been a busy time for staff at Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Permanently on call at the county’s 23 fire stations, they have dealt with a total of 193 calls since the beginning of December, reported Deputy Chief Fire Officer John Redmond.

Fire crews were involved in a number of severe incidents including:

  • The rescue of two people in separate incidents from the River Severn in Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury.
  • Worked with police to deal with two arson incidents in Newport homes.
30 December 2011 Water training pays off after River Severn rescue

Shropshire firefighters who pulled two people stranded in deep water to safety had just been trained in water rescue techniques.

Fast flowing flood water was less than a metre away from where a woman was being kept afloat by a heroic young soldier who dived into the River Severn to save her from drowning. Andrew Simpson, a Private with the Mercian Regiment, clung onto a branch to keep the pair above the water line as they waited for rescuers to arrive.
30 December 2011 Fire safety message – on the buses

Arriva has been helping Shropshire firefighters get over important fire safety messages over Christmas and the New Year – on board buses in both the Shrewsbury and Oswestry areas.

The bus company has put up one of the brigade’s warning posters urging people to “stand by their pan” when cooking in the kitchen. More than 60 per cent of house fires start in the kitchen – many when people leave the room with pans on the hob.
19 December 2011 Ludlow Hospital hosts realistic training session

On the evening of Wednesday 14 October Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust hosted a training exercise at its Ludlow Hospital site to test emergency procedures; this was a joint exercise where Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service was also involved. The simulated incident was a fire gas explosion in a service tunnel this had knocked two maintenance engineers unconscious and one further maintenance engineer had managed to escape the tunnel with minor injuries to raise the alarm.