Have-a-go hero Grant tackles blaze at Telford store
A man who spotted thick black smoke spiralling into the sky ran to offer help when fire broke out at the back of a Telford shop.
Grant Turner realised something was wrong at Finger Road Stores in Dawley, and sprinted to make sure everybody was safe.
When he saw a garden hose prepped and ready to go, he thought he’d hold down the fort and tried to stop the flames in a storage area at the back of the shop from spreading any further.
“I saw the smoke, I knew I had to run down to see what was happening,” he said.
“There were three or four people already there when I arrived and they didn’t know what to do. I spotted the hose pipe and decided to try and contain it myself.
“My first thought was to try and save the house above the shop. There could have been children in there – my gut instinct was that I needed to put this thing out.”
He said he had tried to do the best he could to hold back the fire while waiting for the fire service to arrive.
“It felt like about 10 minutes until they arrived,” he said. “I only had a garden hose pipe, but I tried my best.”
Grant, from Stone in Staffordshire, was visiting his girlfriend in Dawley for the day.
“I just jumped in to help out, really,” he said.
Station manager Ian Leigh said: “A member of the public had utilised a garden hose to attack the fire. We wouldn’t advise people to do it – keeping people safe is always the number one priority. By the time we arrived the fire was progressing well and required fire service intervention.”
Firefighters were sent to the shop after passers-by saw the smoke and dialled 999 at about 9.26am yesterday.
Investigators have not yet discovered the source of the blaze, which damaged part of the building and some of the shop’s stock.
Mr Leigh said: “We came to the Finger Road Stores after a reported fire at the rear of the property.
“Two crews from Telford have attended. We extinguished the fire at the rear of the property, which is adjacent to a store room, with a hose reel jet and two breathing apparatus.
“We’re now dampening down. The fire is extinguished, but we’re checking for any spread. The fire investigator will be carrying out an investigation in due course. The cause of the fire is unknown at present.
“There’s some exterior damage to the store room itself and to some of the items that had been stored outside, but we’re yet to ascertain any further damage.”
A resident, who did not want to be named, said: “I was looking out of my kitchen window and saw all this black smoke.
“It looked like someone was doing a bonfire, but people were running out to see what was going on.“I came out to join the crowd. I could see that the shop was on fire.”
