Nottinghamshire residents are being reminded of the dangers of tackling fires themselves after an incident in Nottingham.
A spokesperson said:
‘We received a call from a member of the public at around 7.45am today (Tuesday 21 December) to a fire on a narrowboat at Castle Marina.
‘Crews from London Road and Highfields fire stations responded and arrived at the scene to find a narrowboat on fire and a 70-year-old man attempting to tackle the blaze.
‘It is believed that the man woke at around 6:30am to put on the log fire burner and returned to bed. He woke up to find the boat filled with smoke and tried to extinguish the fire.
‘Because of his attempts to fight the fire, the man had suffered from heavy smoke inhalation and burn injuries. After being treated at the scene, he was taken to hospital by East Midlands Ambulance Service.’
A joint fire investigation with Nottinghamshire Police is underway to further investigate the cause.
Station Manager Chris Navin said: “We will be in the Castle Marina area for a while longer while we conduct a fire investigation, and would like to thank the local community for their patience as we go about this work.
“If you are using a log burner this Christmas then please avoid overloading the burner with logs and don’t leave the burner unattended. Make sure you have working smoke alarms and take the opportunity to test them regularly so that they can alert you if there is a fire.
“Should there be a fire in your home, please get out, stay out and call 999. The fire service will fight the fire and it will prevent you from seriously injuring yourself.
“I would like to thank firefighters for their efforts in tackling this blaze and we wish the gentleman involved a speedy recovery.”
