The Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has mobilised to a flat fire in Ryde this afternoon (Monday).
2 appliances from Ryde Fire Station are in attendance at a property on Marlborough Road having been called out at around 15:10.
At least 2 firefighters have entered the property wearing breathing apparatus (BA), equipped with a hose reel jet. They have opened the external windows of the property to ventilate the ground floor flat.
The main through road between Westridge Cross and Appley Road remains open to traffic in both directions at this time.
UPDATE @ 15:35 – It has been confirmed that all persons have been accounted for, including an elderly male resident of the property who is being checked over by paramedics.
Initial investigations show that the fire has likely been caused by a heat lamp used to keep 2 tortoises warm. Thankfully, the animals have been saved.
A passing member of the public, Mr Lewis Cherone, stopped at the scene to help evacuate the occupants and isolate the electrics.
With temperatures below freezing, Station Officer Julian Fountaine is reminding Islanders to consider the risks of using heaters and heat lamps indoors to keep pets or ourselves warm. Those with elderly relatives or neighbours should check in with them, adhering to coronavirus guidelines.
Stay safe this winter by:
Keeping warm
• Heat your home to at least 18 degrees Centigrade
• Ensure you have adequate food, medication and warm clothes
Keeping well
• Stay as active as you can
• Make sure you get your flu vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine if you are invited to have one
• Follow COVID-19 guidance
Keeping connected safely
• Contact your GP, pharmacist, carer or key worker for advice
• Keep in touch with friends, family and your community
• Look out for others, particularly those who may be at risk of ill health from cold weather
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Blimey. Even tortoises can get a shift on if they are in danger then.
Fair point Islander, I dislike seeing any animal in a hutch or box. I hope the tortoise is fully ok even if it means living a hundred more years in sadness and misery, as a horrid death by cooking slowly in your own shell.
Imagine how many domestic rabbits and other caged ‘must have’ pets for the kid, are now freezing and frozen water in some tiny hutch whilst the child ‘who adores’ them is in a centrally heated home, with the X box, not venturing out to see there ‘summer time’ buddy.
Ought to be banned now.
yes, yi man – just because a lifeform has a different physical presence than humans, doesn’t communicate using the same forms of verbal communication as humans and lives its life differently to humans, doesn’t give humans the right to remove it from its natural habitat and incarcerate it in a cage/box/aquarium/pen etc against its will.
how sad it is to see lifeforms imprisoned by humans, for nothing more than being different.
Perhaps the real person who’s sadly lacking in their own life, is the person commenting on someone else’s misfortune and criticising them for owning a pet.
i guess you keep creatures imprisoned then Luke, to make yourself feel better do you. Sad, very sad.
perhaps we put you in a box then luke, poke you with a stick and throw food at you once a day, mutter a few words, then leave you there on your own and see how you like it.
and no one “owns a pet” – typical arrogance from a human, that thinks it owns the life of another species. Then again, if you are brainwashed from a young age to believe the incarcerating creatures because they are different and calling them pets is ok, it shows you haven’t evolved enough to see that error for what it is.
have any creatures ever told you that they like being where they are – no they haven’t and they only stay because they are either lost, too scared or have had the misfortune of being born in captivity and never known their true homes, amongst their own kind.
This is newsworthy? The UK tabloids are ridiculous. We get a tiny bit of snow throughout England and the BBC and such are warning us to not leave the house without risking death lmao. And we wonder why other countries laugh at us.
Other countries have plenty of reasons to laugh at us besides our reaction to weather.
YET the world risks life and limb to ‘come here’.
Ask yourself WHY?