Heat Wave Stretches Thame Fire Fighters

AS the temperature in Oxfordshire rose to a record-breaking 34.5 C degrees (that’s 94.1 F) today, bubbling bitumen is causing problems for drivers, trains are having to slow down because of buckling rails and Thame Fire fighters are having to cope with heat-related incidents in uniforms and protective clothing that makes their job all the more uncomfortable and hazardous because of the weather.
Yesterday, they were called out to a serious stubble fire in Judds Lane, Tetsworth, which was attended by seven pumps, water carriers and other fire-fighting vehicles. The fire fighters were on site until 10am this morning dampening down and preventing the fire from getting through hedgerows to adjacent fields of standing crops.
The fire is thought to have been started by a bonfire on land next to the farm.
Thame’s Chief Fire Officer, Andy Ford told ThameNews.Net:”I have never seen the ground so dry. Cracks in the ground on farm land are 2″ wide and up to 10″ deep in places. It is so dry that fire is able to spread along the root system under ground and we are having to dig to extinguish it.”

Later yesterday, Andy and his fellow officers put out a car fire in Wykeham Road, Thame, caused by a faulty battery and from there were called out to deal with a gas storage tank in Towersey that was leaking dangerously because of the high temperatures.

Andy Ford warned: “We would ask everyone to take extra care in these conditions and refrain from lighting bonfires. It takes very little to start a fire in these tinder dry conditions. Field fires travel extremely fast – I have seen fires spread faster than you can run!”
He warned that under the “Dangerous Acts and Occurances” regulations, anyone can be prosecuted for causing a fire in this way.

As many schools in the county are closing because of the heat, Lord Williams’ school in Thame are providing fans and re-rooming classes where necessary. The school has no plans to close at the moment.