[Phoenix]

Two police officers were taken to hospital after dashing into a blazing house fearing that someone was trapped inside.

A female special constable and a male officer had gone to the house in Tredgold Street, Horwich, to speak to the occupant about another incident.

But when they arrived at 8.30am on Saturday, the house was on fire.

They fought their way through the flames and managed to search the ground floor - but could not get up the stairs.

Firefighters from Horwich and Bolton Central stations were called to the scene and put out the fire.

When they searched the house, it was discovered there was no-one inside the building.

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Later, police arrested a man, aged 51, on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.

He was found in a collapsed condition in a street in the Horwich area in the early hours of yesterday.

He was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital where last night he was in a critical condition.

The man is believed to be suffering from an overdose of prescription medicine combined with alcohol.

Watch commander at Horwich Glyn McGann said: "We got a call that people were trapped in the house, and as we were on route to the incident we were notified that police officers had attempted a rescue, but they were unable to gain access to the upper floor.

"We did a thorough search of the building, but luckily no-one was inside.

"The fire was so severe that anyone inside would have suffered very serious injuries or it could have been fatal."

The two police officers were treated at hospital for smoke inhalation.

Extensive damage was caused to the house and adjoining properties were smoke logged.

Neighbour Kevin Hayes, a porter at the Royal Bolton Hospital, had just arrived home from work and was in bed when he was told to evacuate his home.

He said: "When I got home at 6.45am everything was fine. I had just gone to bed when I was woken and evacuated.

"There was a lot of smoke everywhere and the house was well alight."

An investigation has been launched to find the cause of the fire.

Anyone with any further information is asked to contact Bolton CID on 0161 856 5740 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

[Giraffe]

Very brave of those officers to do what they did. I hope they recover quickly and are their actions are properly recognised in due course.

[lordcov]

Very brave but you have got to question their risk assessment.

enter burning building with no one inside ??

[matt_w]

lordcov, on Jun 9 2007, 6:54 PM, said:

Very brave but you have got to question their risk assessment.

enter burning building with no one inside ??

I think that the purpose of a search is usually to determine, before somone dies if possible, whether or not anyone is in the house. Something must have made them think that there was someone trapped inside because they entered a burning building. No one would do that unless they thought it necessary. They did a brave thing.

This post has been edited by matt_w: 09 June 2007 - 09:52 PM

[Tom J]

lordcov, on Jun 9 2007, 6:54 PM, said:

Very brave but you have got to question their risk assessment.

enter burning building with no one inside ??

they wouldn't have gone if they thought there wasn't anyone inside would they?

[Seven]

Tom J, on Jun 9 2007, 11:27 PM, said:

they wouldn't have gone if they thought there wasn't anyone inside would they?

How would you know though? the fire brigade were notified of people potentially being inside... and it sounds like they came across it by observation... if you saw a burning building wouldn't your first concern be that someone was potentially still inside


Risk nothing for nothing
Risk something for property
Risk life for life?

We are in the business of protecting people and property after all

[mikenovember]

lordcov, on Jun 9 2007, 6:54 PM, said:

Very brave but you have got to question their risk assessment.

enter burning building with no one inside ??

I know the special concerened, lets not second guess what these officer did. You dont know all the circumstances and was not present. I think they are very brave even though there was no one in the house.

This post has been edited by David: 10 June 2007 - 03:22 PM
Reason for edit: Text talk removed.

[En Garde]

lordcov, on Jun 9 2007, 5:54 PM, said:

Very brave but you have got to question their risk assessment.

enter burning building with no one inside ??

I disagree. you have not 'got to question their risk assessment' I assume that they are both trained competent professional police officers who carried out a generic risk assessment and agreed that the risk was proportionate to their goal.

We are always taught to make generic risk assessments based on the information we have at the time and change it as and when more information becomes available. The day that is taken away from police officers (along with discretion) you may as well replace police officers with robots.

[Spartacus]

Brave officers. Risk assessment? Sure, if the place is well and truly a blaze, but they successfully searched the ground.. allowing the water fairies to take care of the upstairs. Valuable seconds saved there.

This post has been edited by Spartacus: 11 June 2007 - 05:53 PM

[lordcov]

Like i say very brave...

Anyone who has seen the ' red mist ' training video will no doubt remember the part about the two officers who enter a burning building to ' check ' if anyone is inside and one of them ends up trapped and dies.

I accept that i have no knowledge of the circs of the incident and therefore have no reason or room to comment.

Hope they are both well