A sad day for some.

Today I watched a house burn down. I opened my curtains and as I looked across the colony flats, there was thick black smoke, flames licking up through what was once a roof. At least four families' homes, lives, hopes and dreams gone in an instant.

Through the course of the morning I watched as the brave men and women of the emergency services battled to put out the blaze. The design of the old historic colony flats made it hard to control and stop it from spreading. The alarm was raised at 5:20am. Ten engines and numerous support cars were called to the scene and over 30 firefighters battled for well over 7 hours to control the blaze. By 2:30pm they were finally packing up their hoses.

I've never witnessed a fire before, it was frightning and shocking. Thankfully no one was injured (1 person was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation) and neighbouring properties were quickly evacuated. You always think that these things don't really happen and when they do, they're quickly dealt with but today has reminded me this is not the case. It certainly prompted me to check my smoke alarm.

The emergency services never receive enough thanks or praise for what they do, but after watching them at work today, they truly deserve it!

If you don't have a smoke alarm or it's old and doesn't work very well, most local fire services now offer free home safety checks, provide new smoke alarms (with ten year batteries) where needed and can offer valuable advice that could truly save your life if you are ever in the unfortunate situation of having a fire start in your house.

My thoughts are with the families who have no home to return to tonight.