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EDITIONS
Saturday, 30 November, 2002, 10:38 GMT
Deaths during fire strike
Military fire crew
Military crews are standing in for firefighters
Twenty-two people have died since the start of this year's second national firefighters' strike.

There have been nine fire-related deaths and 13 fatal road accidents as the walk-out enters its final hours.

The eight-day stoppage ended at 0900 GMT on Saturday.

The most recent fatal incident was on Saturday morning in a house in Lincoln.

A man's body was found after the fire had been brought under control by military and retained firefighters.

On Friday evening an elderly man died at his home in Hertfordshire.

Retained fire crews went to the man's bungalow at Northchurch, Berkhamsted but were unable to save him.

Army
The Army has taken hundreds of calls
On Thursday, a man died after his car burst into flames following a collision with another vehicle in Leicestershire.

Two people were killed in separate car collisions attended by soldiers on Wednesday night.

Both accidents happened in North Yorkshire and casualties were cut free from their vehicles by military personnel with the help of striking and retained firefighters.

Ten other fatalities have occurred in road accidents where emergency help was needed, and sometimes given by striking firefighters.

The seventh death in a fire was on Wednesday, when a woman in her 30s died in a blaze at her flat in Co Down, Northern Ireland.

Murder charge

Striking firefighters left their picket lines to help the military crews who attended the blaze, which is being treated as suspicious.

The other fire-related deaths have included four men and two women who died as a result of separate fires at their homes around the country.

The first victim was 27-year-old Matthew Thatcher who was pulled out of a burning house in Kent early on Saturday morning.

Matthew Thatcher
Matthew Thatcher: Died in a house fire
Paramedics and police officers who were first on the scene in Eccles, near Aylesford, were driven back by smoke but striking firefighters left the picket line to attend and were joined by two Green Goddesses.

The water worker died from smoke inhalation after the fire and a woman has been charged with his murder.

Kerry Hogbenn, aged 30, of Victoria Street, Eccles, was arrested following the death of Mr Thatcher.

A few hours later 38-year-old Anthony Boyne died in what police described as a suspicious fire at his home in Earlsdon, Coventry.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said investigations into the fire were on-going.

No blame

Two Green Goddesses, one red engine, three Breathing Apparatus Teams and one Rescue Team, arrived at the blaze within five minutes of receiving the call.

A 90-year-old man died in a house fire in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, just before midday on Saturday, but fire chiefs stressed this death was not the result of industrial action.

House fire deaths
Matthew Thatcher, 27 dies in Kent house fire
Anthony Boyne, 38, dies in suspicious house fire near Coventry
Man, 90, dies in house fire in Woodstock
Man found dead after mobile home fire in Devon
Woman, 81 dies in a house fire in Waterloo
Woman, 80, dies after cigarette starts fire in Cornish home
Woman in 30s dies in suspicious fire in Northern Ireland
Non-striking retained firefighters dealt with the blaze and a Green Goddess crew also attended, but was not involved.

An 81-year-old woman died in a house fire in Holden Road, Waterloo, Liverpool on Saturday afternoon.

Army firefighters were called but the property was well ablaze when they arrived.

An 80-year-old woman died on Sunday after a discarded cigarette set light to furniture at her home in St Just, Penzance, Cornwall.

On Saturday, the military was also called to a fire at a caravan at the Dover Farm Caravan Park in Staining, near Blackpool, at 1500 GMT.

The first of three Green Goddesses arrived nine minutes later and military crews tackled the fire.

After the fire was extinguished, Army crews found the body of a man inside.

Picket lines

A spokeswoman for Lancashire Constabulary said the man had been identified and was in his 50s.

His name was not being released until next of kin were informed.

During the first strike - from 13 November to 15 November - military personnel dealt with more than 2,500 emergency calls and Green Goddess crews went to 766 incidents.

Seven people died during that time, including a mother and three children in a house fire in Wiltshire.

The FBU said none of the deaths could be blamed on the industrial action as firefighters had broken picket lines and would continue to do so.


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14 Nov 02 | Politics
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