Tragic weekend for Tyne and Wear as two lose their lives in separate house fires

Two men have lost their lives in separate house fires in Sunderland and in Newcastle.

On Friday 19 ^th October, at 6:20pm firefighters from Sunderland Central, Marley Park and Farringdon Community Fire Stations arrived on scene to tragically discover the body of a 56 year old man at a property in Mariners Square, Sunderland.

The fire had extinguished prior to the arrival of the firefighters, who ventilated the property and isolated the gas supply. It is suspected that the fire was caused by smoking materials.

The second fire occurred earlier this morning, when three crews from Gosforth and Byker were called to a property at Belle Grove West at 12:25am. The crews discovered a 43 year old man in a first floor bedroom. Fire crews and paramedics carried out CPR at the scene, before he was taken to hospital where very sadly he died.  A second 36 year old man, was located outside the property where he was handed over to paramedics and taken to hospital.

The fire investigation is ongoing.

TWFRS Area Manager – Service Delivery – John Pratt commented:

“This is a double tragedy and our thoughts and sympathies go out to the family and friends of these two men. Our crews did everything they could, but in the first incident the fire was believed to have burnt itself out prior to us being called and the man was confirmed dead when we arrived.

The second fire was incredibly intense, resulting in a severely damaged kitchen, first floor bedroom and part of the living room. Other rooms were significantly damaged by smoke.

I would also like to commend our firefighters for their professionalism and dedication in both these terrible incidents.”

Following any house fire we would like to remind our communities of the importance of having working smoke alarms and the need to test them regularly.

TWFRS Prevention and Education teams were out in the Mariners Square area over the weekend and will be in the Belle Grove West area on Wednesday October 25^th to offer home safety checks and advice to local residents.