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I was first on the scene,as I cycled up London Road just after 6am,I was covered in smoke,I looked up and could see the smoke coming out of the roof,so I went to the next house and was about to ring the bell when a man came out and said there is smoke in my house,I said call 999,then I heard someone because the smoke was so bad I couldn't see him calling the Fire Brigade,so I went next door and rang the door bells.
A lady and a man came to the door and they didn't know what was going on,so I told them to get out,I could see flames in every window now,and the fire engines arrived,I went down to the Eagle to stop the traffic coming up,I had a high vis jacket on so that helped.8 fire tenders arrived and two ambulances,then about 06.20 the Police arrived and sealed off London Road.
My problem was my bike was where the fire was as I had just left it as soon as I saw the smoke and a fireman went to get it.When I got home I couldn't sleep and you think about if there was anyone in the house,the lady next door said that someone lived there but didn't know if he was there,if he was I thought if I could have done more,but when I saw the fireman break the door down and saw the flames I know if there was someone in there,I couldn't have helped and would have made things worse because the last thing the fireman would want is to look around for an extra person.
One of the fireman who turned up was a former player from my Football team,and what was nice was the fact another Fireman thanked me for my help.Now it sounds as if I am blowing my own trumpet here,but I did it without thinking and having recieved many fire courses over 35 years on the railway it was natural to assist.
I smell of fire though,I just hope there was no one in the house and that all the fireman are o.k.