Firefighters praised for 'enormous bravery' of Wealdstone flat rescue (From Harrow Times)
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Firefighters praised for 'enormous bravery' of Wealdstone flat rescue
3:12pm Friday 7th September 2012 in News
By David Hardiman, Reporter
The flat was destroyed by the fire yesterday afternoon.
A politician whose hair salon operates under Wealdstone flats where two girls were rescued from a fire yesterday has praised firefighters’ “enormous bravery”.
Harrow’s Conservative leader, Councillor Susan Hall, said she was amazed how quickly the fire in the first-floor flat above her hair and beauty salon in Headstone Drive was extinguished.
Fire crews entered the smoke filled building at just after 2.10pm yesterday to rescue a girl who was trapped in the flat next-door, and mounted ladders on the outside of the building to rescue another girl.
Neighbours, who fled the block of flats in panic and stood outside in shock while crews worked to dampen down the blaze, were also quick to praise the actions of the firefighters.
Cllr Hall said: “It’s often said you can’t appreciate the sheer horror and intensity of house fires until you see them in person, and as this was right above my shop I had a first-hand view of
it.
“The officers were so kind and professional throughout, and showed enormous bravery in tackling the blaze.
“One of the officers modestly told me ‘it was very hot up there’, which, from what I saw, might be the understatement of the year.”
The cause of the fire, which mostly destroyed the flat of the tenant, a woman in her 50s, is still under investigation.
