Hayling firefighters’ ‘amazing’ response to early morning inferno which destroyed car and nearly set home on fire is praised by couple

Cathie Ingram, who lives with her husband Tony, woke in the early hours of December 4 to find flames springing from the vehicle parked outside their house.

The speedy response of the firefighters saved the day, and were praised by Cathie as ‘fast, efficient, professional and thorough’.

While their vehicle was completely burnt out, the couple - who have lived at their Highworth Lane home for 13 years - were told that the flames were mere seconds away from setting the house on fire.

Cathie described the ‘panic’ she felt when she realised there was a fire that morning.

After waking at 3.30am to what she thought was the sound of rain - but what was actually the crackling of the flames - Cathie noticed an orange glow around the edge of her bedroom blind.

She said: ‘When I lifted the blind I saw that it was our car, which was on the drive right next to the house– the flames were as high as our bedroom window.

‘I immediately shouted to my husband that there was a fire and just to get out.

‘We immediately called the fire brigade whilst running down the stairs.

‘We couldn’t get out of the front door, due to the fire, so had to get out the back, but we couldn’t get past the fire so had to stay at the back of the drive.

‘The car started exploding and there were very loud bangs.’

Cathie realised that the fire was starting to come through her sitting room window - but it was at this moment that the fire brigade arrived.

She said: ‘They were there in about five minutes and they were amazing.

‘Within seconds they were running up the drive with a hose pipe, and started tackling the fire.

‘One of the firemen came to talk to us straight away which put us at our ease.

‘The firemen ruled out foul play/arson and said it would probably have been an electrical fault.’

The fire crew used one hose reel jet to put it out.

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Later, the firefighters told the couple that had another 30 seconds gone by, the curtains would have caught fire and the flames would have spread further into the house.

Cathie said: ‘I dread to think what the outcome of this had been if I hadn’t woken up when I did.’

While some heat damage was caused to the front of the property, the couple’s car was completely destroyed.

Cathie said that she would like to say ‘a massive thank you’ to the firefighters who came to her rescue.

She added: ‘They deserve a round of applause (and a couple of beers!) for the job they do.

‘We could have lost personal and irreplaceable items if they hadn’t responded so quickly.

‘As it is, it is just a car and part of a house.

‘Let’s hope we always have a fire crew on Hayling Island. ’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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