Councillor questions response times after fatal fire

A parish clerk died after a house fire in an Essex village earlier this month

A councillor has asked a fire service to clarify how quickly it responded to a blaze that claimed the life of a parish clerk.

Sheila Jones died after a fire at a semi-detached house in Ickleton Road, in the village of Elmdon, near Saffron Walden, Essex, on 9 February.

Querying the response time, Neil Gregory, an Uttlesford Independents district councillor, told a meeting: "These are matters of profound public accountability. The lady who tragically lost her life was the Elmdon parish clerk."

A spokesman for the Essex Fire Service said it had responded as "quickly as possible" and the first appliance arrived within "16 minutes of the initial call".

Gregory, who represents Littlebury, Chesterford and Wenden Lofts, told Uttlesford District Council's cabinet: "There are already some concerns about response times by Essex Fire Service, and I would state in the last few days, I've attempted to get some direct answers to direct questions out of the fire service, which it has refused to answer so far.

"So I am still wondering what the response times were between the matter being called in and the first appliance being on station."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Gregory told the meeting he would "not be letting this rest" and would be taking it up with Essex's police fire and crime commissioner if he did not get a "satisfactory response".

In response, a spokesperson for the fire service added: "We have provided Councillor Gregory with detailed information regarding our response times and processes.

"As always, we remain committed to transparency and are happy to continue engaging with him to address any further concerns.

"We will also continue working with the police, fire and crime commissioner, as we do on all matters related to fire and rescue performance."

Details released by the fire service at the time said crews had been called to "the scene of a well-developed fire".

Two other people were injured and were taken to hospital with burns and smoke inhalation.

An incident log said: "When firefighters arrived at the address, they reported the whole building was alight.

"Firefighters were on scene tackling the fire and trying to minimise the damage to the neighbouring property for many hours."

Essex crews were joined by firefighters from Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

An investigation established the fire was accidental and involved an electrical appliance.