Firefighters rescue family trapped on black ice in Nidderdale

Volunteer firefighters from Lofthouse rescued a family whose car was stuck on black ice last night.

The on-call firefighters were called to the notoriously steep Trapping Hill just outside the village at 6.50pm last night, on the final day of the recent freeze.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident log said:the car “had become immobile on black ice” and the family had been informed it would take six hours for a recovery vehicle to attend. It added:

“Firefighters walked two adults and one child into the safety of Lofthouse village.”

The incident log also noted that fire crews do not recover vehicles.

Temperatures have risen sharply today after more than a week of sub-zero conditions.

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Resident taken to hospital after house fire near Masham

A resident was taken to hospital last night after a house fire between Masham and Ripon.

Fire spread from the fireplace at the home in Mowbray Terace, West Tanfield, prompting firefighters from Ripon and Bedale to rush to the scene at 6.09pm.

It was the fourth incident attended by Ripon fiefighters yesterday. They also dealt with a garage fire, chimney fire and water leak.

North Yorkshire Fore and Rescue Service’s incident log said:

“The fire had spread from the fireplace and was extinguished using one hose reel jet, small tools and a positive pressure fan to ventilate.

“The occupant of the property was also taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.”

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Firefighters from Ripon, Harrogate and Masham called to garage fire

Firefighters from Ripon, Harrogate and Masham extinguished a fire in a garage on Dallamires Lane in Ripon today.

The garage, which contained one vehicle, is attached to a house. The extent of the damage is unknown.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s incident log said the alert came at 2.22pm. It added:

“Crews extinguished the fire using two breathing apparatus, one hose reel jet and a thermal imaging camera. The cause of the fire is yet to be established by fire investigation officers.”

It was the Ripon crew’s third call-out of the day. At 11.53am, city firefighters were summoned to a chimney fire on High Street in Markington. The incident log said:

“The fire was confined to the chimney and extinguished by the home owner prior to the fire service’s arrival. Crews carried out a thorough check for hot spots and gave advice to the home owner.”

At 7.59am,  a crew from Ripon responded to a report of water leaking at a home on Harrogate Road. The incident log said:

“Crews isolated the water leak in the loft and turned off the water to the property. Advice was given to a responsible person.”

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Fire at Fountains Abbey causes carols to be cancelled

An electrical fault caused a fire at Fountains Abbey near Ripon yesterday.

Ripon firefighters were called to the National Trust-owned property at 12.13pm after staff discovered there had been a small fire.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident log said staff on site had already summoned an electrician and firefighters isolated the electricity supply.

A spokeswoman for Fountains Abbey said:

“There was a small electrical fire in the abbey on Sunday morning.

“Ripon fire service were contacted immediately and on arrival, they confirmed the fire was out and had been contained.

“Due to the nature of the fire, as a precaution, we took the decision to cancel Carols by Candlelight – despite its name, the event does require electrical power for a sound system to amplify the service to visitors, and to ensure there is sufficient lighting the abbey for the safety of our visitors.

“We’re very grateful to the fire service for their quick response and support.”

The UNESCO World Heritage Site is is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England.

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Reduction in Harrogate fire engines to begin next year

The reduction in the number of fire engines crewed overnight in Harrogate looks set to be implemented next year.

Zoë Metcalfe, the Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, today published her blueprint on how fire resources will be deployed over the next three years.

Her Risk and Resource Model includes greater investment on fire prevention and rural on-call stations. But full-time urban fire stations in Harrogate and Scarborough will see the number of appliances staffed between 10pm and 9am reduced from two to one.

They will, however, get two emergency rescue fire engines at other times, when most fires occur, rather than the current one emergency vehicle and one less well equipped tactical response vehicle.

The nighttime reduction has been criticised by unions and councillors for putting lives at risk.

But today’s report, which was published after a 12-week summer consultation, provides some consolation. It says:

“We will adjust the night staffing proposals at Harrogate and Scarborough to provide added resilience by adding an additional firefighter.”

‘Low number of incidents’

The report reveals the county’s fire and rescue service received £38.2 million funding 2022/23, of which £23.4 millions came from council taxpayers.

Two-thirds of fire stations are on-call stations where firefighters respond to a pager from home or from their work. Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Masham, Lofthouse and Summerbridge have on-call stations in the Harrogate district, although Ripon has a full-time crew during the day.

Fire station locations in North Yorkshire. Pic: North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

The report says:

“Because many people do not live and work in the same community anymore, many of our on-call stations struggle to have enough firefighters available to respond, especially during the day when demand is highest.”

It also says “many of our fire engines attend a relatively low number of incidents”. In the year to March, 31 2022, firefighters attended 7,594 incidents, of which 1,742 were fires, 2,485 incidents classed as ‘special services’ and 3,367 false alarms.

‘Reduce the need for an emergency response’

The report says the “increased focus on prevention aims to address and reduce risk and the need for an emergency response”.

The joint foreword by Ms Metcalfe and chief fire officer Jonathan Dyson says:

“We are a predominantly rural service where most of our stations are crewed by on-call firefighters. It is increasingly challenging to recruit and retain staff to keep our rural fire engines available to respond to emergencies. We intend to modernise and invest in our on-call service model to ensure it is sustainable and fit for the future and ultimately improve fire engine availability.

The report says the consultation revealed more support in favour of the proposals than against, but adds:

“The extent of disagreement was greater for proposed changes to the provision of response resource (Huntington, Harrogate and Scarborough).”

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Firefighters called to Pannal business

A faulty storage heater caused a fire at a business in Pannal today.

A member of staff dialled 999 when they noticed smoke at the commercial premises on Station Road.

Firefighters from Harrogate and Knaresborough were summoned to the scene at 8.43am and entered the building wearing breathing apparatus.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident log says they discovered a “small fire to a storage heater”, adding:

“Firecrews extinguished the heater, which had developed an electrical fault, and cleared the premises of smoke with a positive pressure ventilation fan.”

The fire, at the unnamed business, was the first of two incidents in the Harrogate district today.

At two minutes past midday, fire crews from Boroughbridge and Knaresborough were called to the A1 southbound near Boroughbridge to deal with a car fire.

A Vauxhall Zafira had caught fire following an engine fault. Firefighters using breathing apparatus dealt with the incident.

The incident log adds:

“Occupants had left scene, believed to have been picked up by another vehicle prior to arrival of emergency services.”

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Police plea to call out drink drivers amid increasing Harrogate district incidents

North Yorkshire Police is urging people to alert the force to suspected drink drivers amid concern over increasing cases.

The force, along with North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, today launched its Christmas drink and drug drive campaign.

Called ‘Save a life and call It In’, it encourages people to ring 999 if they suspect someone is behind the wheel under the influence of drink or drugs.

The campaign, which runs until January 1, will also see officers patrolling the county in marked and unmarked police vehicles and carrying out roadside checks.

Superintendent Emma Aldred, head of specialist operations for the force, told the Stray Ferret:

She said:

“We do drink drive campaigns throughout the year, but we do see an increase around the festive period because people come together a lot more and there are office parties, house parties and with the cost of living we are seeing a lot more home drinking.

“We are seeing increased drinking and people thinking they are okay to drive the next morning or that night, which is just not acceptable.”

‘We are seeing an increase’

During last year’s campaign – which ran from December 1 to January 1 –  there were 137 people arrested for drink or drug driving in the county.

From the 137 arrests, 120 were men and 17 were women. 72 people of the 137 were charged with an offence. A total of 25 of the arrests were made following a crash. 

Tony Peel, group manager at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

Tony Peel, group manager at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Tony Peel, group manager for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, also said that the service was now seeing an increase in drink driving incidents across Harrogate and North Yorkshire.

He said:

“We are starting to see a slight increase.

“I think with the messages we did many years ago, it [drink driving] did go down. But it does seem to be growing a little bit and we are seeing an increase.”

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The plea to call out drink and drug drivers has been endorsed by actor Mark Charnock, who plays Marlon Dingle in television soap Emmerdale.

Mr Charnock took part in a mock car crash at Harrogate Fire Station this week to demonstrate the impact that drink driving can have on someone.

Mark Charnock was cut from a car as part of a demonstration at Harrogate Fire Station.

Mark Charnock was cut from a car as part of a demonstration at Harrogate Fire Station.

The demonstration saw him cut out of a car by fire crews and put onto a stretcher before being lifted to safety.

Mr Charnock said:

“If this was real, if you add in real horror into the mix of what I’ve just been through, I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like.

“You just would not wish it on your worst enemy.”

The campaign against drink and drug driving will run from December 1, 2022, until January 1, 2023.

Firefighters called to sauna fire at Rudding spa

Firefighters using breathing apparatus were called to reports of a fire in a sauna at Rudding Park spa last night.

Crews from Harrogate, Boroughbridge and Knaresborough were summoned to the incident in Follifoot at sixteen minutes past midnight.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident log says:

“Crews used four breathing apparatus, two thermal imaging cameras, one hose reel and small tools to deal with the incident.

“The fire was caused by an electrical fault.”

The hotel’s managing director, Peter Banks, said the fire started after the spa had closed and was spotted by a night cleaner, who quickly raised the alarm – even before the smoke alarms had been activated.

The sauna has a system which releases nitrogen as soon as a fire is detected, taking the oxygen out of the room. Mr Banks said:

“By the time the fire service, arrived, the fire was pretty much out. The system worked exactly as it should have and it’s business as usual today.”

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Stray Views: Where is green energy in Maltkiln plans?

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Where is green energy in Maltkiln plans?

I read with interest your article regarding consultations over the proposed Maltkiln development. I’m concerned about sustainability, green energy and insulation standards.

With this in mind I went on the council website to see what is planned. I wasn’t able to see any detail about the standards for insulation, provision of solar panels and heat pumps or anything about district heating schemes.

We have thousands of houses being built in this area and elsewhere with no solar panels and they have gas boilers. A new town is the ideal place to incorporate the latest green technology to make new homes more comfortable and affordable to keep warm.

I tried to find a comments section which is not easy so I left my comments in one text box hoping they will be read.

It is awash with jargon and very little explanation or simple key points to aid understanding of what is proposed. I did notice that there is some provision for ‘affordable’ homes which is what we really need and also self build which would be good for those wanting the ‘passive house’ standards of insulation and very low energy costs which should be available to all.

Ralph Armsby, Harrogate

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One fire appliance is ‘useless’ at night

This proposal is sheer stupidity. If there is a nighttime fire to the local Harrogate area and then one breaks out in outlying areas how is one appliance going to cope. Even if an appliance comes from Knaresborough the journey time element means it’s useless.

The fire last night at a caravan storage site and a vechicle had to come from Malton a journey tine of well over one hour, useless.

Nighttime fires are not usually detected as soon as daytime ones so total loss and possible deaths can occur.

I never saw anything about this proposal as I live six miles to the west of Harrogate near Menwith Hill and the distance means that we are at greater risk anyway.

Allan Campbell, Nidderdale

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Harrogate pub evacuated due to fire

A Harrogate pub was evacuated late this afternoon after fire broke out in the kitchen.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service received two calls from the pub at 5.07pm today saying there was a fire in the kitchen.

The emergency service, which has not said which pub was involved, tweeted this evening:

“The venue had been evacuated and the fire had been extinguished using a fire blanket prior to our arrival but we ensured the area was safe.”

Less than an hour later, just before 6pm, fire crews were. also called to reports of six people stuck in a lift in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service tweeted at 6.18pm that “our crews are assisting with this”.

November 5 is one of the busiest nights of the year for firefighters.

The emergency service tweeted:

“We hope you are all enjoying yourselves this bonfire night but stay safe.”

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