Early morning blaze forces evacuation of Cambridge shelter for the homeless
Fire at Jimmy's Night Shelter in Cambridge
Cambridge fire service were praised for their quick reaction to a fire at a city homeless shelter in the early hours of this morning.
A small fire broke out at around 1am on the third floor of Jimmy’s Night Shelter – prompting the evacuation of the premises.
The fire service’s prompt action was praised by Henry Brown, CEO of the shelter.
He said: “The response from the Fire and Rescue services was very good. There was limited smoke damage to the property but so far we have not been able to assess the extent of it.
“The F&R services are still working to establish the cause of the fire. But we are really glad that nobody was injured.
“The duty staff at the shelter also did a really good job in getting the building evacuated but that is something they are trained for.”
Smoke detectors inside the shelter worked perfectly to give the staff time to get the occupants out safely.
Two crews from Cambridge were called to deal with the blaze in a bedroom of the shelter on East Road.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a hose reel to extinguish the fire, about 30 metres by 25 metres, and a positive pressure ventilation fan to clear the smoke and returned to their station by 2.37am.
Station Commander Stuart Smith, of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The smoke alarms allowed people to evacuate at the earliest opportunity to a place of safety and the fire doors helped confine the smoke and fire to the room of origin.”