A Burnham-On-Sea man has told how he helped to evacuate residents from a block of seafront flats after a fire broke out late on Friday evening (March 18th).
Three fire crews from Burnham and Bridgwater were called to The Esplanade at 11.40pm after a kitchen fire in a flat, as pictured here.
Eyewitness Tony Fleming said: “I had just got back and saw toxic smoke billowing out of the next door neighbour’s upstairs window.”
“The alarms were going off, so I ran around to the front, banged on the doors, and rang every door bell to get the people out from the six flats. When I opened the letter box, a plume of toxic smoke came out.”
“After lots of shouting, and with some help from someone walking past, we got everyone out safely while calling the fire brigade.”
He added: “With their breathing apparatus on, the fire crew checked every flat and made sure the fire was out, while the ambulance checked that everyone was OK.”
Fortunately, his actions meant the fire was quickly extinguished. A spokesman for the fire service told Burnham-On-Sea.com no-one had been hurt in the incident, which had been caused by food left unattended on a cooker. The damage was limited to severe smoke logging.
