Appleton receives accolade from Fire Service

April 27th 2010 Appleton, Oxfordshire: Tuesday 5th January 2010 was a snowy and cold winter’s night and disaster struck a house in Appleton. The Close, one of the oldest houses in the village caught fire at about 8:30pm with a mother and five young children fleeing the house: snow was lying thickly on the ground, the roads were icy and quite perilous, but the Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service made it into the village and found one of the biggest fires they have had to deal with in quite a while. Twelve fire appliances were required with about 70 fire-fighters and it proved to be an all-night job.

As soon as the fire was noticed urgent phone calls were made to other villagers and it was soon realised this was a major incident and the fire fighters would be in the village for some hours. The Village Hall, nearby, was opened and teams of villagers then set to – tea, coffee and biscuits rustled up from the Community Shop and then constantly through the night to keep the spirits of the fire-fighters going.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer, David Etheridge, said: “We knew, as soon as we saw the fire, this was going to be a challenging night. The journey into the village was tough and, because of the snow, it took some time to find the nearest fire hydrant also buried under the snow!

“The opening of the Village Hall was a very thoughtful gesture and the crews were grateful to have the chance to recover; the refreshments were well received, as was the opportunity to re-gather energy to tackle the fire.

“I was pleased to nominate Appleton “Snow Heroes” on BBC Radio Oxford the morning after the fire. The Appleton community spirit is something we do not come across too often and we are delighted to present a framed letter of thanks and our brigade plaque as a record of our sincere thanks.”

“Appleton, with a population of about 1,000, is a close-knit community,” commented Claire Salmon. “As soon as the plea for help went out, in typical “Appleton spirit” people called each other and gathered to help. It certainly helps that we own and run the Village Community Shop – thus opening up the shop and raiding the shelves was no problem! We are thrilled with this commendation and we were so relieved the family at The Close suffered no injuries in the fire. The fire service was outstanding and it was a pleasure to be able to help, even in such a small way.”

Notes to Editors The Presentation to the Appleton Community will be made by Deputy Chief Fire Officer, David Etheridge, on Thursday 29th April 2010 in the Appleton Village Hall at approximately 6:45pm, just before the start of the Appleton Annual Parish Meeting.

Appleton is a village to the West of Oxford and between Cumnor and Faringdon. It has a population of about 1,000.

The Oxfordshire Fire Service comprises 24 fire stations with 35 fire engines.

For further information contact:

Graham Rose Thistledown, Park Lane, Appleton, Oxfordshire OX13 5JT Tel: 01865 864026 Email: g.rose@dsl.pipex.com

Deputy Chief Fire Officer David Etheridge Tel: 01865 855206 Email: david.etheridge@oxfordshire.gov.uk

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