Fire officers’ quick action saves antique centre

THE antiques centre in Tetsworth, near Thame, had a lucky escape early this morning, when fire appliances from three local stations were called to a fire in the kitchen of the Swan pub and restaurant next door.

Image: courtesy of Oxfordshire Fire Service

The emergency services received a call of reports of a fire at 12.20am this morning, November 15, and fire appliances from Thame, Watlington and Slade Park, Oxford, were quickly on the scene and officers wearing breathing apparatus rapidly entered the building and, using hose reels and high pressure fans, were able to prevent the fire spreading from the restaurant to the adjoining antiques shop.

Fire investigators from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were still at the scene investigating the cause this morning.

Incident Commander, Station Manager Paul Webster, said: “The sounding of a smoke alarm raised a near-by neighbour who called the fire service. Our crews were on the scene very quickly and along with a good routine of closing the doors in the property prevented this incident escalating and fire spreading to the antiques shop. This type of incident reminds us all to check our smoke alarms because a fire like this can go undetected so easily and then the losses can be so much greater.”