Amid an Amber wildfire alert due to the dry weather, Swanage Fire Station has been called out to two fires over separate days.
The latest callout was on Thursday 23rd June 2022 involving an incident with a gas bottle at Spyway car park in Langton Matravers and the second was on the previous Wednesday when there was a fire on the railway embankment near Harmans Cross.
The camping gas cylinder had caught alight and was burning the verge at Spyway car park in Langton Matravers
Gas cylinder was alight
A crew from Swanage was sent just after 9 am to the National Trust-owned Spyway car park following reports of a gas cylinder alight.
A spokesperson for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue said:
“On arrival the crew found a one litre camping gas cylinder alight and allowed this to burn out under their supervision and used one hose reel jet to extinguish a small area of grass and undergrowth that had caught fire.”
The fire was quickly put out and the cylinder was allowed to cool until it was at a safe temperature.
The railway embankment was on fire and spreading towards nearby gardens
Fire on the railway embankment
On the day before, on Wednesday 22nd June 2022, the call came in at 12.19 pm to go to a fire on the railway embankment near Harmans Cross, that had started to spread towards neighbouring gardens.
The steam locomotives on the heritage Swanage Railway can sometimes throw out sparks that may have led the dry grass to ignite at the side of the rail track.
A spokesperson for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue said:
“Crews from Swanage and Poole were mobilised and on arrival found an area of railway embankment measuring 95 metres by 6 metres alight, which was extinguished using beaters and one hose reel jet.”
Swanage Fire Station added that the crews had to work hard to get the fire under control quickly in the hot weather.
Swanage Fire crew on a breathing apparatus training exercise
Recruiting for more on-call firefighters
The fire stations at Swanage and at nearby Wareham, are currently looking to recruit more on-call firefighters to tackle a wide range of incidents including commercial and domestic fires, road traffic collisions, animal rescues and flooding
These are roles for people who live and/or work within the local community, responding to emergencies when their alerter goes off.
Regular training sessions provide on-call firefighters with opportunities to learn new skills
Rewards
Apart from the rewards of serving the local community, on-call firefighters earn additional income, receive training and gain useful transferable skills such as first aid, driving qualifications and health and safety knowledge.
More about the role of an on-call firefighter and how to apply, is on the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue website
