Stella’s steamy 999 Christmas call- out
London’s legendary West End theatres are closed and shrouded in darkness, as are cinemas across the capital. But there was drama aplenty amid the gloom in exclusive notting Hill this week, when the London Fire Brigade responded to a 999 call — coming from the £10 million townhouse of acclaimed fashion designer stella McCartney.
‘Two fire engines came out,’ a notting Hill local tells me. ‘There must have been at least seven firefighters who went into the house.’
neighbours gathered, watching anxiously, but there was no sign of 49-year-old stella, nor of her husband, Alasdhair Willis, nor their four children, Miller, Beckett, Bailey and Reiley.
The crew emerged from the house after ten minutes. ‘one of them said that they’d found a burst hot-water pipe which had created a buildup of steam — which the caller thought was smoke,’ explains the local. ‘Probably why the housekeeper, or house-sitter, was looking a bit sheepish as she walked out of the house with them.’
Earlier this year, three fire engines responded after a blaze flared up in a shared rubbish chute serving three adjoining houses, including stella’s.
on that occasion, the culprit had unthinkingly tossed a stillsmouldering cigarette end into the chute, causing the detritus to go up in flames.
The London Fire Brigade confirms the latest incident. ‘It was a fire alarm sounding. Two fire engines and around ten firefighters attended,’ a spokesman tells me.
Perhaps stella should consider enlisting another notting Hill neighbour as house- sitter — Jason donovan.
Last year he rushed across the road to put out a blaze with his own fire extinguisher — indifferent to the fact that he was wearing nothing more than his underpants.