TFM Spends Bonfire Night With Cleveland Firefighters
Bonfire Night is one of the busiest nights of the year for our region’s fire crews.
We decided to send our reporter Hannah Smith out with crews from Cleveland Fire Brigade to find out what it’s really like to work as a firefighter on Bonfire Night.
She was placed with Green Watch, based at Stockton Fire Station in Norton and riding on Bravo 3.
The night began with a number of large bonfires in Hardwick, both of which had decent crowds gathering around.
This was a good chance for the crews to ensure people knew how to keep the fire safe and to make sure children were kept as far away as possible.
Despite the fires looking quite ferocious to the naked eye, Watch Manager Stuart Simpson said most we safe.
He said: “It’s a bonfire, it’s being properly supervised by people over 18.
“It’s on open ground, it’s not near any structures, it’s not near any lighting.
“You’re better off going to an organised display, but they’re here, we’ll give them some safety advice.
“If there was no adults in attendance, for safety reasons, if there was only young people here, we would have to extinguish the fire.”
The night took a more serious turn when the crew were needed in Hartlepool to assist their crews with a flat fire.
They were the fourth fire engine to arrive on the scene, where the flames in the upper floor flat had been extinguished.
Our crews job was to ensure the building next door was not ablaze and to make sure there weren’t any casualties inside.
Firefighter Kat Dawson went inside, she said: “We had to break in, make our way up the stairs.
“The previous crew had put it out, but there was hotspots that we could see from the thermal cameras that we carry.
“We just had to search to make sure there was no one in the building.”
Thankfully the building WAS empty and the fire was under control, meaning Bravo 3 could head back to base and Green Watch could retire for the evening.
However, the crew fully believe that this weekend will be even busier for them.