[03 April 2007]

Fire at Brunswick Terrace, Hove on 31^st March 2007.

Fire crews from East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service were confronted with a serious incident when they arrived at a seafront apartment block in Brunswick Terrace, Hove on Saturday 31st March. The Mobilising & Control Centre (M&CC) received the first emergency call at 11.55am. The caller outlined that smoke was pouring out of the top floor of a block of flats. 31 duplicate calls were subsequently received by M&CC.

Fire crews from East Sussex were despatched immediately to the scene along with collegues from West Sussex. On arrival, a serious fire was underway on the 4th floor of the building and an immediate request was issued by fire-crews for additional fire appliances and an Ariel Ladder Platform (ALP). The blaze was tackled from ground level, roof level and from both adjacent buildings, whilst a large number of crews, wearing specialist breathing apparatus, were dispatched into the building to under-take search and rescue operations in an attempt to firmly establish that everyone was safely out of the building.

A police helicopter provided additional information directly to the scene, outlining to ground-crews any visible risk of the fire spreading to the back of the building. There is virtually no access to the rear of this building, which is quite common within this type of seafront property. A total of 10 appliances were in attendance at the height of the incident and the fire was bought under control by 13.00hrs.

[Allison Gilson]