We could not be prouder of Fire Control operator, Gemma Woodhouse who has been honoured with a certificate of appreciation today for giving lifesaving fire survival guidance to a member of the community who was trapped in a house fire, leading to their safe rescue.
On 28th October 2021, Gemma accepted an emergency call where a lady had woken up to a fire in her home which had resulted in her being trapped in an upstairs bedroom to the rear of the property. Gemma mobilized three appliances to the incident within 31 seconds and continued to give fire survival guidance and reassurance.
Gemma remained calm and took control of the call immediately, ensuring that the lady was safe until the arrival of the operational crews. She remained on the line with the lady for 9 minutes, all the while instructing her to keep herself safe by putting bedding around the door to keep out the smoke and for her to stay by the open window to ensure she was getting fresh air.
During this time, Gemma created a connection with the lady, giving her name and reassuring continually that she was there to help. Gemma continued gathering information and capturing this on the incident log to assist the Control team in passing relevant information to the operational crews to assist in her rescue.
The actions that Gemma took, ensured that the lady remained in a safe place until the arrival of the operational crews who then initiated a rapid deployment to rescue her the property. The lady was then taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
Chief Fire Officer Stuart Errington commended Gemma for “Remaining calm and professional whilst providing support, reassurance and lifesaving advice through an extremely difficult fire call enabling the occupier to remain as safe as possible before she could be rescued from her property. I am immensely proud!”
