Fires kill five despite strikers aiding Army

Five people died in fires in their homes yesterday – the first fatalities of the current eight-day walkout.

Matthew Thatcher, 27, was pulled from his burning house in Maidstone, Kent, early yesterday by the Royal Navy, but later died in hospital. The two Green Goddess crews were aided by striking firefighters from nearby Larkfield. County fire chiefs claimed the military firefighters arrived as quickly as under normal circumstances – 20 minutes after receiving the call. Resident Elizabeth Follenfant said: "They were very quick getting Matthew out of the house. Both the firefighters and the military seemed to work fast to get it out."

A few hours later a 38-year-old man died in hospital after being pulled from a "suspicious" fire at his home in Coventry. An army spokesman said Green Goddesses arrived within six minutes. A third man, David Jones, 90, died in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, just before midday, in a house fire that was tackled by non-striking retained firefighters who arrived within two minutes. Late yesterday afternoon a woman died in a house fire in Liverpool. A fifth death occurred in a caravan park near Blackpool when crews found a body inside a burning caravan.

Detectives are investigating a suspected arson attack on the home of a striking firefighter on Saturday. Burning paper was pushed through the door of the firefighter's home in Warwickshire during the early hours, police said. The firefighter was on a picket line in Leamington Spa when smoke alarms alerted his family.

Firefighters also crossed their picket lines to attend numerous car accidents around the country. A man and a woman died when a lorry crashed through the central reservation of the M4 and collided with their car. Firefighters attended the scene from their picket lines, along with two Green Goddesses.

Firefighters also left picket lines to help to rescue five people trapped in the wreckage of a car on the B3274 near St Austell in Cornwall. And a woman involved in a car crash has died in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Four Green Goddesses, two Breathing Apparatus Rescue Teams and a red fire engine were called overnight to a fire at an MOT centre in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

A spokesman for the MoD said: "No one was injured but it was quite a serious fire. The building is now well burnt out. One Green Goddess is still there damping down and civil engineers will assess it."

Nearby residents were evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure because of a number of cylinders within the garage.

And a further four Green Goddesses were despatched to another blaze in nearby Stockport to tackle a tyre dump fire.