Fire crews were called to a house in Victoria Road early this morning after a fire started in the basement.
The fire was said to have been started by an electrical fault.
’The occupants of the property had safely evacuated the house prior to the crew’s arrival, and informed them that they believed the basement area of the property was on fire.
’Two breathing apparatus teams were tasked with locating and extinguishing the fire in the basement. Basements are notoriously difficult to deal with as crew’s have to descend through the heat layer, into areas that often have difficult access and unusual layouts.
’The fire was confined to an electrical fault beneath a desk in an
office/study area in the basement.
’Crews isolated the electrical supply to the property and used a hose reel to extinguish the fire.
’They remained in attendance for approximately two hours checking the basement for hot spots/fire spread and by means of positive pressure fans, clearing the property of smoke.
’The Fire Service takes this opportunity to highlight the fact that working smoke alarms save lives. In this instance the smoke alarms gave the occupants of the house, who were asleep on the second floor early warning that a fire had occurred, and allowed them to safely evacuate the building.
’The second point to make is that electrical sockets and ups (uninterrupted power supplies) should not be overloaded.
’Take care with extension cables that you are not asking them to exceed their amperage rating, (should be marked on it).
’And do not leave chargers on overnight, that jumble of cables under the desk or behind the TV may well be due a tidy-up, and check that you are not overloading them.’