Fire in Prestwick

Two fire appliances from Ayr Community Fire Station were mobilised to a fire in the upper floor of a two storey mid terraced dwelling in Prestwick's Monkton Road at 22:30 hrs last night.

On arrival the Incident Commander found that the fire had broken through into the roofspace of the building and he immediately summoned his available crews to don breathing apparatus and enter the affected premises to extiguish the blaze and prevent any lateral spread to the adjoining properties on either side of the residential premises.

In addition to his firefighters overcoming heat and smoke the Incident Commander had to contend with the extreme temperature  which had fallen to -13 degrees centigrade and the subsequent freezing effect that this was having on the available mains water supply from the street hydrants.

To consolidate water supplies additional resources from both Ayr and Kilmarnock Community Fire Stations were mobilised  to the scene to bolster water resources.

Firefighters delivered a male occupier, who was suffering from burns to his upper limbs, from the upper storey flat into the hands of the attendant ambulance crew who transported the casualty to Ayr Hospital for further treatment.

The fire was brought under control by a combination of hand controlled and aerial branches.

The crews are currently stripping away part of the roof structure to ensure that all remnants of the fire are extinguished and fire appliances will remain in attendance for some time.

Strathclyde Police assisted greatly in managing the outer cordon of the incident and the  traffic control of  the surrounding area.

The cause of the fire will be jointly investigated by Strathclyde Fire & Rescue and Strathclyde Police.