An exciting end of year school trip turned nightmare for school children recently, when the bus they were travelling on caught a blaze on the A169, in the middle of the North Yorkshire Moors. A fortunate set of circumstance however meant that the Fire Crew from RAF Fylingdales were able to respond to the incident quickly and were first on the scene to subdue the fire.
What started off as a fun, exciting day soon turned into a living nightmare when the bus transporting 31 caught fire and the children had to be evacuated.
The fire itself was the result of a failed pump that leaked diesel into the engine compartment and quickly caught fire. Luckily due to the prompt action by RAF Fylingdales, the four-man fire crew were able to race to the scene, and using specialist breathing apparatus were able to extinguish the fire.
RAF Fylingdales Fire Crew Watch Manager Baz Gargedt said:
“We were just relieved to be able to get to the fire so quickly. Our guys acted, as always, swiftly and calmly and thankfully there were no injuries."
Fire Crews from Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay subsequently attended the incident and were able to resume control whilst the crew from RAF Fylingdales were able to go back to their primary mission of protecting the iconic RADAR on the North York Moors. RAF Fylingdales has a manned 24-hour Fire Station on site to protect the RADAR. On occasions like this the Station is able to work with local services.
Rev’d Paul Burnett, Watch Manager at Whitby Fire Station said:
“Many thanks to our RAF fire service colleagues for reacting so quickly to what was a quickly escalating fire with many young people on the roadside. Their additional support led to a quick conclusion of the incident. We occasionally train together, and this close working relationship pays dividends at times such as this.”
