Firefighter’s dramatic escape caught on CCTV

The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service attended a blaze at a derelict building in Rochdale when the incident occurred last year.

The footage, filmed from a nearby passing fire engine, shows Watch Manager Paul Anderson walking away from the scene of the fire. As he turns to glance behind him the upper wall of the building bulges outwards and collapses to the ground just inches for him.

As the clouds of dust billow around him Anderson is seen walking nonchalantly away from the scene before finally turning to look behind him.

Anderson, a Watch Manager at the Lyne Fire Station spoke to the Manchester Evening News saying: “I had checked the house next door, which was also empty. I came out, walked five paces past the two houses then it dropped.

“There is a little bit of a Chuck Berry skip in my walk as it goes. I could sense in the periphery of my vision that there was something not quite right.

“But there had been nothing at the incident that gave us cause for concern regarding a possible collapse of the property. It emerged later that the roof timbers at the back of the property had dropped and the wall ties in the property had not been replaced.”

‘I came out, walked five paces past the two houses then it dropped.’

The incident occurred last September and was released today as part of a health and safety training programme for its staff and other fire and rescue services in the UK.

County Fire Officer and Chief Executive Steve McGuirk said the footage provided a terrifying example of the dangers faced by fire crews.

He added: “The footage is unbelievable. Our crew and the police are diligently attending this incident, where a derelict property is on fire. But who could have predicted the front of the house would collapse in this way.

“It is frighteningly close and this fire fighter could so easily have been killed. It’s a powerful example of how our fire fighters put themselves at risk each and every day to keep people across Greater Manchester safe.”

The footage now forms part of the service’s training programme and is being used to make fire fighters aware of the potential risks of similar incidents.