Firefighters' event-filled bank holiday weekend

May 8 2009 By Mark Goode

The garage which was set alight, showing soot damage.

FIREFIGHTERS were kept busy over the bank holiday weekend after they were called to six incidents.

In the early hours of Monday morning, firemen from Staines and Egham were called to an arson attack in Falcon Drive, Stanwell, where a garage was set alight.

Fire crews were called at 3.30am, and took more than an hour to extinguish the flames.

Paul Salter, who lives behind the garage, said: "We were woken up by the sirens. We stepped outside and saw flames coming out the roof. They were about three feet high. The firemen couldn't get their hose reels to the garage at first because of a low building, so they came rushing around with a fire extinguisher."

The garage owner lost a Grand Jerokee Jeep in the blaze and neighbouring garages sustained damage. Firefighters found a small amount of asbestos in the ceiling and the floor, but no one was injured in the incident.

The previous day (Sunday 3) crews from Staines and Sunbury were called to the BP garage in Staines Road West, Ashford as a car was leaking liquid petroleum gas.

And on Saturday (2), firemen tackled a car fire in Livingstone Court, Stanwell, and were also called to Kingsway in Stanwell to tackle and out-of-control bonfire which set alight to a hedge and a garden fence.

On Friday (May 1), Egham firefighters doused an engine fire on the M3 between junctions one and two.