Insecticide 'smoke bombs' set off in Hilsea flat spark fire service response

Three crews from stations across Cosham and Havant were scrambled to the Southdown View complex, in Military Road, Hilsea, at 10.19pm.

Officers from Cosham fire station were the first to attend the address, having been alerted by the building’s emergency fire alarm system.

Residents in the tower block – which is currently in the process of having its flammable cladding removed and replaced – had begun to evacuate.

However, as fire crews arrived they were greeted by a po-faced occupant who told them there was no blaze and that the alarms had been triggered accidentally by insecticide devices designed to kill moths.

The 31-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I felt like a right idiot. For the past couple of weeks I’ve had a moth problem in my flat and had been waiting for this insecticide to be delivered.

‘The stuff arrived today so I set it off in my flat. The instructions said that I shouldn’t be in the flat for a few hours to let the insecticide do its work. So I went to the cinema.

‘I warned my neighbours beforehand that my smoke alarm might trigger and that if it did, it would be fine and that it would be insecticide.

‘It was only when I opened my door and the remaining smoke from the device drifted out, that the sensitive communal alarm in the corridor was triggered.’

Officers used a positive pressure ventilation fan to clear the lingering smoke from the corridor and flat before leaving 20 minutes later.

The flat owner said: ‘I can’t praise the fire service enough for how quickly they arrived. They were literally here in about two minutes. It was a fantastic response and makes me feel incredibly confident that if a real emergency happened I’d have nothing to fear.

‘But I definitely feel like a bit of a numpty having woken all my neighbours. On the upside, at least my moth problem has been dealt with.’

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The crew from Havant was stood down before arriving at the scene.

The two teams from Cosham left at 10.39pm.

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