We were lucky. It could have been so different
The deaths of a mother and her children are a stark reminder of the fragility of life and the dangers faced by fire crews, says Luke Mintz
When Johnny Village trooped upstairs late on Christmas Eve in 2012, he didn’t expect to leave the house until the following morning. It was a particularly windy night in Brixham, on the south coast of Devon, where he was spending a first Christmas in his newly renovated home with his wife, Linda, and two adult sons. Village, a former BBC engineer, had invited friends round to celebrate, showing off their new wood-burning stove. “Eventually, we all went to bed, wishing each other Merry Christmas,” he says.
When a restless Village went downstairs at 3am, he opened the living room door to see flames shooting up from behind the hearth. The wood-burner, he quickly realised, was touching the back and gradually setting it ablaze. He raised the alarm, waking his family and evacuating the house. Fire officers arrived rapidly and the blaze was extinguished. Village’s home – and his Christmas – had been saved.
Yet the night could have turned out very differently, as Village was reminded this week by the terrible story of the Collison family, who were nearly wiped out by a house fire during the early hours of Saturday. In a tragedy that has horrified the Nottinghamshire village where they lived, the fire ripped through the family’s house, killing Justine, 33, along with her two children, fiveyear-old Harvey and eight-year-old Isabella. Their father, Gavin, remains in a serious condition in hospital. The children’s grandmother, Diane Fletcher, escaped unharmed.
Neighbours, woken by explosions, saw an orange glow from the conservatory and tried to force their way into the house, but were beaten back by flames. The family’s local MP, Robert Jenrick, said the proximity of the tragedy to Christmas “reminds us all of those we love and care for, and of the fragility of life”.
The story has reminded families across the country of the valiant efforts of firefighters, who will be working to keep communities safe over Christmas.
Looking back on his own close shave, Village says he is particularly grateful to Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. As he watched their engine pull up, Village assumed the firefighters were a full-time professional force. But he discovered they were, in fact, an on-call service, who had all left the warmth of their family homes in the early hours of Christmas morning at the drop of a hat (or the buzz of a pocket beeper, more accurately).
This Christmas, like every year, communities across the country will rely on these part-time firefighters to keep them safe. Some 18,000 men and women across the UK work as “retained firefighters”, and their work is especially important to rural communities, where the nearest fulltime operation might be miles away – such as with Brixham, or Collingham, where the Collison family lived.
Some retained forces respond to as many as 800 calls each year, whereas others get only 50. The majority of the general public is not even aware that they exist, according to UK Fire Service Resources.
Dr Jill Tolfrey, chief executive of The Fire Fighters Charity, which supports officers who have been physically or psychologically injured, says Christmas is a particularly apt time to celebrate
‘Firefighters have no idea what awaits them when those calls come in’
the dedication of these retained forces. “This Christmas, as at every other time of the year, on-call firefighters will be ready to drop everything and rush to their local fire station whenever their pagers bleep,” she says. “Just as with their full-time counterparts, these part-time firefighters have no idea what awaits them when those calls come in.”
Village was impressed by the professionalism of the firefighters who turned up in the early hours of Christmas morning. He had just about evacuated his family by the time they arrived – although it was easier to get some out of bed than others. His younger son, who has served in the Marines, was up like a shot as soon as he was told about the fire; his older son, who had recently graduated from university, took a little longer to stir.
But there was still the problem of the wood-burning stove, which was by now fully ablaze. As Village stood outside, all he could think was that their newly renovated home would burn down. The family had recently taken their possessions out of storage, and he imagined the horror of losing them all in one catastrophic night. He thought particularly of the reams of precious photographs that could be destroyed. Even if the fire was extinguished, he thought ruefully, the use of the firefighters’ hosepipe could still cause serious damage.
“I was imagining they were going to turn up, just flood the house, put the fire out and say ‘right, thank you’. But instead they came conscientiously into the lounge, checked where the problem was, and very carefully removed the part that was on fire. They then carried it outside and poured water on it,” he recalls. The officers later put a camera up the chimney to check that the fire had been fully extinguished. The family was only outside for around 10 minutes in total, Village estimates.
He was amazed with their work, and later donated to The Fire Fighters Charity. Their festive routine the following day was remarkably normal: smoked salmon for breakfast followed by presents, topped off by a full Christmas lunch.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service says Christmas is “the same as any other day for our on-call staff ”. Rob Cude, the station manager, explains: “Crews respond to many emergencies during the Christmas period, meaning time away from their own families and loved ones. They do this to ensure the safety of all people in their local communities, as they are dedicated, proud to help, and always working hard to do their best.
“Christmas is a special time and incidents can be very upsetting so crews, as always, provide support, professionalism and empathy when attending emergencies.”
Village remembers one of the firefighters saying: “We were at home, asleep, and my pager went off.”
“I was just thinking, he’s got to get from his house to the fire station, with kit on, and then get to us,” he adds. “And they did it so quickly.”