Bedroom Fire in Millers Close

At 1.21pm on Thursday 31 March Thames Valley Fire Control received a call to report a bedroom fire in Millers Close, Goring. Two fire engines from Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service were immediately mobilised from Wallingford and Abingdon Fire Stations, and were assisted by colleagues from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service. The emergency call was made by the occupiers of the house, who discovered the fire when they returned to the property, having been out for just over an hour. They could see and smell the smoke and upon opening the front door could hear the smoke alarms activating upstairs. On arrival, firefighters wearing breathing apparatus sets were deployed into the building and used thermal imaging cameras to assist them to move safely through the dense smoke to locate the fire, plus high pressure hose reel jets to extinguish the fire which was located in the front bedroom.

Due to these rapid fire fighting actions the fire was brought quickly under control by the first attending fire crew. Large portable fans were used to remove the smoke from the building to assist in minimising the damage that it could cause to the remainder of the building that had not been affected by the fire. The crew ensured that no further fire had spread through the floor boards and also checked the neighbouring property to ensure that the smoke had not spread into that building. Station Manager Marcus Reay who attended the fire said ‘Initial crews were faced with a heavily smoke-logged first floor and the crews did a good job to find and extinguish the fire so quickly. The cause of the fire has been examined by our specialist fire investigators and it is believed to have started when sunlight reflected off a mirror located in the front bedroom, and focussed the rays onto a box of tissues which were on a wooden tray. I would like to remind everyone that mirrors can cause fires not only in the summer but also at other times of the year as the sunlight will penetrate further into the room as it is not as high in the sky’. Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service advise extra care should be taken when reorganising a room or when moving house to ensure that mirrors are placed out of the sun’s rays. The Red Cross Incident Response Service Team also attended the incident to offer their support to the occupiers who had only recently moved to the property.