A firefighter has praised the work of a Nottinghamshire care home in evacuating its residents during a fire. Six fire engines were called to Hatzfeld House in Mansfield Road, Blidworth, at 4.14pm on Tuesday, February 21.
Around 20 residents were in the home at the time, however none were injured during the blaze. Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live at the scene, Group Manager Jonathan Holford, of Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We had six appliances at one stage but we also additional resources to support the incident.
“I arrived around 4.15pm and crews arrived to a developing fire with lots of smoke. Nobody was injured and the care home has done a good job. Just over 20 people were taken to an adjacent property and given shelter there whilst we dealt with the incident, but they are all now being let back in."
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He said the fire was contained to just one room by firefighters. “We’re now at the stage of investigating the cause so we can’t say anything else on that at the moment," said Mr Holford.
"We expect to be here for another hour or so but the investigation may then run into tomorrow. We will also be returning overnight to make sure there is no residual risk, that’s just something we do as a precaution.”
One woman who lives opposite the care home recalled seeing smoke and care home staff "running wild". “You could see from the smoke that the fire was contained to one area and the smoke was gone after a bit," she said.
One resident, who has lived next to the care home for around 20 years, added: “I think the fire service have obviously dealt with it very effectively and efficiently because I didn’t really see anything. In all the time we’ve been here, the care home has never had something like this and there hasn’t even been a false alarm for years.”
Crews from Mansfield, Edwinstowe, Highfields, Arnold, Ashfield and Hucknall were all in attendance before extinguishing the fire by around 5.10pm. The service wrote on Twitter: "The fire on Mansfield Road, Blidworth is now out and there have been no reports of any injuries.
"We will remain in the area for some time to conduct a fire investigation. Traffic along Mansfield Road, Blidworth remains very congested, if possible please take an alternative route."
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