AFA, British Car Auctions, Paddock Wood

Matfield and Paddock Wood were mobilised to an alarm sounding at British Car Auctions in Paddock Wood at 04.00 this morning. No fire was found.

AFA, Camden Court, Pembury

Matfield were called to an AFA at Camden Court at around 23.30 last night. I did not ride on this one as I was reserve.

Matfield Village Fete, Saturday 17th July

We will be at Matfield Village fete this Saturday afternoon from 1pm for people to come and look around the fire engine and meet some of the firemen.

BA training at Tonbridge

On Thursday evening Matfield went to Tonbridge for breathing apparatus training where the brief was to conduct search and rescue of a casualty from a confined space. The scenario here was that once the casualty had been found in a building, collapse would hinder the exit where BA cylinders and backplates were taken off and passed through a hole in the collapse along with the casualty to carry on with the task and complete the drill.

Houses and Flats Alight, High Street, Staplehurst

Matfield and Paddock Wood were called to standby at Marden fire station at around 03.30hrs this morning after Marden were called to a fire at flats on Staplehurst High Street. Initially the incident was reported as 'persons reported missing' however there turned out to be no life at risk. When the fire spread to a neighbouring terrace of houses, Matfield and Paddock Wood were called to the incident where we added to a string of BA crews which were deployed into the terrace to locate and extinguish the fire, a task made difficult due to the unusual and historic design of the building with hidden cavities. By around 0800hrs the fire had been extinguished. In terms of resources, I saw two Maidstone pumps, Marden, ourselves and Paddock Wood, Sittingbourne and Lenham, a reserve tender, a skylift to fight the fire from above, a water tender and incident support and command units. Police and paramedics were also at the scene and the High Street was completely closed.

Fire in road, Knowle Road, Brenchley

Matfield were sent out to look at what turned out to be rubbish which had been dumped in the middle of the road at 01.15 hrs on Wednesday which turned out to be smouldering.

Rubbish Alight, Lucks Lane, Paddock Wood

Bleeper went off at about 20.15hrs this evening for some rubbish alight in a field in Lucks Lane - what looked like the discarded unwanteds from a boot fair.

We were also in attendance for two AFAs last night at 12.15 and roughly 04.15 this morning at Sprivers, Horsmonden and East Barn, Farm Lane, Lamberhurst.

We will also be at Matfield village fete next Saturday afternoon for people to come and chat and have a look around the fire engine.

Van Alight, Tong Lane, Brenchley

Matfield were the only appliance in attendance for an abandoned van ablaze at the Goudhurst end of Tong Lane this evening. The van, a transit, was completely destroyed by the fire.