BBC man and his family escape ‘scary’ home fire
SMOKE ALARM WARNED THEM OF BLAZE IN BOILER ROOM
A BBC correspondent has described the frightening moment he was woken up by his smoke alarm after a fire broke out at his Nottinghamshire home.
Colin Paterson, the BBC’S entertainment correspondent, said a fire started in the boiler room at his home in Winthorpe, Newark, where he lives with his wife Louise and her children Charlie, seven and Jamie, five.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters from Newark and Collingham were called to a fire at 04.54am yesterday.
Colin said: “We were woken by our smoke alarm going off. Louise got the boys out of bed with their favourite cuddly toys and I went downstairs, there was a terrible smell.
“I went into a state of shock, it’s really scary stuff. I just heard Louise say ‘get out, get out.’ We’ve got an outside boiler room and she could see the flames through the door which was shut.
“The boiler room is about two metres away from an oil tank and its roof is attached to the house. We suddenly thought if the flames got to the oil tank in the boiler room there could’ve been a massive explosion.
“We drove to the end of the road and waited around 10 minutes before the fire service arrived.”
He said when the fire service arrived, the fire had reduced so much that the firefighter managed to put it out using just his feet.
Colin, who has only lived in Nottinghamshire for four months after marrying Louise in September 2020, added: “It was like a miracle, it was absolutely amazing.
“The fire service couldn’t have been any more considerate, they were absolutely brilliant. They had to suck the smoke out of our house and they kindly took all the pictures of the wall for us.”
Colin said once they were back inside the house, he got back into bed and turned the TV on to watch his prerecorded interview with Dave Grohl, of the Foo Fighters, on BBC Breakfast.
He said: “I had the weird scenario of watching me Zoom interview him from the house that could’ve burnt down. It was very strange, a really intense morning.”
He added that the fire service told him about the importance of the What 3 Words app, which would have helped them to locate his house in this situation.
Gerry Williscroft, watch manager at Newark Fire Station, said, “The family were woken up by a smoke alarm in the early hours.
“One third of houses in Nottinghamshire do not have adequate smoke alarm coverage in their homes and we want to highlight the fact that smoke alarms do save lives.
“The minimum requirement is that there is one working smoke alarm on each level of a property.
“It is also important that you have an evacuation plan ready, in case an incident like this happens to you.
“Use this time at home to ensure you and your family know how to escape if needed.
“On this occasion the house was relatively easy to find and the occupier met the crews at the end of the drive. However, sometimes we do attend incidents that are hard to find.
“What 3 Words is an app we want people to download and use, as it allows us to get to incidents that may be in the middle of nowhere.
“Having working smoke alarms in the home, having a planned escape route and having What 3 Words are all things that can save lives during an incident.”
I went into a state of shock, it’s really scary stuff.
Colin Paterson