After rescuing people from a burning building, a team of officers holding a police recruitment event was praised
At around 1.20pm on Sunday, 5 June, officers from the Met’s Outreach Teams were holding a recruitment drive on High Street in Walthamsow.
Officers were in the process of signing up a member of the public to become a police officer when they heard shouts that there was a fire in nearby Erskine Road.
Officers from the North East Command Unit rushed to the multi-occupancy building and were joined by officers from the local Safer Neighbourhoods team.
When the occupants who had escaped arrived, they weren’t sure if everyone had escaped because there were six separate rooms housing different families.
The first floor of the building was clearly on fire, with smoke billowing out of a window.
Without hesitation, the officers entered the burning building and began evacuating the remaining occupants.
The officers searched the property room by room. The officers retreated, pushed back by the fire, only after they were certain the building had been cleared.
The fire was successfully extinguished by the London Fire Brigade.
An electrical appliance is thought to have started the fire.
“The bravery and selflessness of all the officers involved in this incident highlights the qualities required to be a police officer,” said Inspector Amy Milton of the Central Outreach Team. I am grateful that everyone inside the building was rescued safely; this would not have been possible without the quick thinking of those on the scene.
“In the immediate aftermath, officers gave some of their clothing to the elderly residents and entertained the children with colouring books and pencils from their recruitment stand – a side of policing that you don’t always see!”
“It’s ironic that officers were in the area engaging with the public during a recruitment event when this incident occurred – there’s no better advertisement for the Met than seeing our officers spring into action and confronting dangerous situations with the safety of the public at the forefront of their minds.”
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