NEWS: Firecops

MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
31 March 2010

A POLICE officer has told how a chance inquiry in the middle of the night led to the rescue of a family of four from a house fire.

Pc Alan Mark and his colleague Pc Dale Jackson have been commended for going beyond the call of duty by rushing into the house to extinguish the blaze and evacuate a mother and her three young children.

The woman is understood to have been asleep on the couch with her three-year-old daughter in the living room of her house in Gareloch Way, Whitburn, when she was woken by a knock on the door at 2:20am on Friday.

Police had found her partner's car damaged and off the road earlier that night, and the two officers had called round to make sure the family had not come to harm.

However, shortly after the woman answered the door, the officers smelled smoke coming from the room where she had been sleeping just minutes earlier.

Pc Mark said: "She went back into the living room and saw that the place was on fire.

"She shouted to us for assistance and my colleague helped her get her three children, a two-year-old son and two daughters aged three and seven, out of the house. I put out the fire with several jugs of water that were passed through to me from the kitchen. There was quite a bit of smoke.

"We called the fire brigade for assistance and an ambulance was also sent out.

"The fire brigade found that the fire started in a lamp, and they believe an item of clothing was left lying on it.

"The children were a bit frightened getting woken up at that time in the morning, and the two- year-old was eventually taken to hospital as a precaution.

"The woman was also quite stressed. We think we had just woken her up when we knocked on the door."

The family at the centre of the drama declined to comment.

However, the officers' chief inspector, Graham Jones, has commended Pc Mark, 40, and Pc Jackson, 29, for their quick thinking. Chief Inspector Jones said: "I am delighted that the quick thinking and decisiveness of these two officers prevented a frightening incident from turning into a more serious ordeal.

"Fortunately, all occupants were safely removed before the fire service attended and made the property safe.

"Lothian and Borders Police are committed to making our communities safer. However, Pc Mark and Pc Jackson surpassed what was required of them to ensure these members of the public came to no harm."

David Lockhart, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service community safety manager, also commended the officers.

He said: "We always stress that if you discover a fire, you should get out, stay out and call the fire and rescue service.

"The occupier was fortunate to have such immediate help to evacuate her and her children safely and the police were obviously confident enough to tackle the fire and extinguish it before we arrived."