Fire rescue’s tragic aftermath

Flowers at the scene of last week's fire in Mossley.

A HAVE-A GO hero who rescued his neighbour from a house fire in Mossley has launched a petition to fully reopen the local fire station after the man he saved died on Friday.

Darren Mellor was concerned about the response time when crews from Oldham and Stalybridge attended the blaze at Brooklands Close on Wednesday morning.

Ken Bailey, who had recently returned home from cancer treatment, was taken to Tameside Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, and died there on Friday.

Mossley station, only a short distance from the semi-detached house, used to be manned round the clock, but is now staffed only during the day. Over 1,000 signatures have been added to a petition to reopen the station full-time since the tragedy.

Darren said: “The station is only a minute from the house. If they’d come from there it could have made a big difference. I don’t think enough is being done. I’m not blaming the crews who came out; they did a fantastic job. I said this could happen when it was made part-time. We want the station reopened full-time. I don’t want Ken’s death to be in vain.”

Chadderton FBU rep and former Oldham borough rep of 10 years Dave German said the union’s position is that cuts cost lives, and urged the public to have their say in the upcoming elections.

He said: “Funding has been cut and the public needs to realise the firefighters don’t want the stations closed.

“People can make a difference. If we had our way there would be a 24-hour crew at Mossley.

“This is a tragic event and our thoughts are with his family. Our message is that cuts cost lives.”

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority (GMFRS) said the decision was taken to only man the station through the day due to the low number of house fires over the last year and said the response time was inside service targets.

Councillor David Acton, chairman of GMFRS, said: “It’s not clear yet whether this man has died as a result of the fire but, whatever has happened, it is extremely sad and our sympathy goes out to his family and friends.

“His neighbours showed tremendous courage, entering the property and making sure he got out.

“I would like to reassure local people that firefighters were mobilised within seconds of receiving the call and arrived in about nine minutes which is within our agreed and published response time.

“Emotions can run high when communities are dealing with the aftermath of such a distressing incident but this ward has had 10 house fires in total in the past year and this is the first one to occur between 9pm and 9am.

“This is why the station in Mossley is crewed during the day with a fire engine and all the very latest firefighting equipment but covered by other stations nearby overnight.