Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue - including a crew from Hitchin - have been praised for working tirelessly for more than hours to extinguish a thatch fire.

Incident Commander, Andy Hall, Head of Operational Response, from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Services, was in attendance and said:

"Yesterday [Friday, March 3] at approximately 730pm HFRS Fire Control received a call alerting us to a fire in a thatched property in Bassus Green, Walkern. 

"Because of the unique nature and challenges presented when firefighting in thatched houses, seven fire appliances, an Aerial Ladder Platform, an Incident Support Unit, Command Unit and additional fire officers were all mobilised.

"The first crew and fire appliance on scene were faced with a well-developed fire involving 90% of the thatched roof. Crews worked extremely hard to undertake initial salvage operations which had to be ceased due to the collapse of part of the roof. 

 "A special thanks goes to our fire control staff who along with this incident maintained our operational cover in the rest of the county.

"During the incident several on-call appliances were used which are made up by part-time fire fighters who live and work in their local communities and give up their time to respond to emergencies.

"I am pleased to say that the fire has now been extinguished, there are no reported injuries. The cause of the fire is not thought to be deliberate."

Due to the rural location the property HFRS drew extensively from on-call (part time) colleagues to assist in resolution of this incident. This included, for the initial call, on-call fire engines from Hitchin, Ware, Buntingford & Welwyn Garden City with further appliances from Redbourn and Hoddesdon being used to relieve these crews later on.  

HFRS remained on scene throughout the night extinguishing the fire with the 'stop' message being sent at 4am.. 

The reinspection 1030am using thermal imaging cameras confirmed the fire remained out.