Stupefied By Thick Smoke In Roof

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30947, 31 December 1965, Page 1

Stupefied By Thick Smoke In Roof

Mr N. L. Crump was almost asphyxiated by smoke from a fire between the corrugatediron roof and ceiling of his home at 62 Northcote road yesterday afternoon.

Mr Crump explained last evening that he had been burning off outside walls of his house to prepare them for repainting. The fire broke out in roof joists at the rear of the house.

“I took a garden hose up a step-ladder in a manhole in the ceiling to put out the fire. The smoke was so thick that I became so dizzy I could not get down the stepladder and was stuck in the manhole,” Mr Crump said. A neighbour who gave the fire alarm at 3.13 p.m. on a 111 telephone call said that the roof was well alight and that the firemen must hurry.

Firemen from St. Albans and Headquarters stations were at the house in a few

minutes and quickly had the fire under control, using two hose reels. Before the firemen arrived, neighbours had carried from the house household appliances, furniture, bedding, and clothing. The fire damage was confined to less than a quarter of the roof area, but water and smoke caused damage to rooms in which Mr Crump had been working for 10 hours a day, papering and renovating. There was a further setback when a purse containing £2O belonging to Mrs Crump could not be found. However, it was found later in possessions taken from the house to the back garden. The house is insured.