Firefighters have been praised after they took just five minutes to respond to a fire at a shopping centre that led to a supermarket being evacuated.
Shoppers in Pennywell, Sunderland, got more than they bargained for when firefighters attended following reports of an electrical fire on Thursday morning (September 22).
Three appliances from Farringdon and Gosforth Community Fire Stations including an Aerial Ladder Platform were deployed to the blaze at the supermarket on Portsmouth Road.
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Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service’s Fire Control had received the emergency call at 10.26am and were on scene in just five minutes. Fire crews looked into initial reports by a local worker saying that smoke had been seen bellowing from the roof of the building.
They worked closely with the electricity board to isolate the power supply and began to tackle the fire. Flames were situated in the eaves of the building before firefighters were able to successfully extinguish the blaze.
Station Manager at Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, Andrew Nelson, said: “We applaud the quick thinking of the shopping centre staff who alerted the Fire Service to the potential fire. The speedy response by our Crews and Fire Control ensured that the electrical fire was contained and didn’t spread to any other areas of the complex.
"By using our Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) we were able to investigate and identify the exact location of the fire, and to alleviate the issue. After the fire was extinguished we were able to pass the incident over to the electricity board and people were then able to continue going about their day.”
TWFRS crews checked out from the shopping centre at 12:18pm after tackling the fire for one hour and 47 minutes.
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