Excellent and rapid teamwork between the emergency services meant that all residents from a four-storey block of flats escaped injury following a flat fire in Tipton last night.

West Midlands Ambulance Service received a call from West Midlands Fire Service shortly before 10.00pm last night to reports of a flat fire in St Marks Road in Tipton. Two ambulances, a paramedic officer, the Trust’s Hazardous Area Response Team paramedics and a senior paramedic officer attended the scene. A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said:

“When ambulance staff arrived, a large number of residents were in the street after they had evacuated from the block of flats. Firefighters were using ladders to rescue the remaining eight residents from windows of their properties whilst also working to quickly extinguish the fire.

“With a large number of people on scene, it was the responsibility of ambulance staff to identify residents who needed their help. Two patients, a woman and a man, were suffering from the effects of breathing in smoke.

"Their carbon monoxide levels were assessed by ambulance staff on scene and after receiving treatment, both of their conditions improved which meant they didn’t require hospital treatment.”