|
|
 |
| |
Hero cops, PC Ahmed and PC Towle at Islington Police station |
Off-duty cops praised for battling car arson attack
Horror as blaze came close to igniting petrol station
TWO off-duty Islington policeman potentially saved dozens of lives when they selflessly battled a raging car fire that threatened to ignite a nearby petrol station.
Residents, including a mother and her baby, were watching the blaze – believed to have been started by arsonists - in Toyne Way, off Archway Road, Highgate, in the early hours of Sunday.
But they were unaware that the inferno was only moments away from setting light to other cars and the petrol station nearby.
Islington PCs Haroon Ahmed, 35, and Shane Towle, 32, were driving home from a 12-hour night shift covering the Tour de France when they saw the blazing Ford Focus.
The car’s owner, a Mr Wallace, said: “All of a sudden I saw these two men come from out of nowhere.”
PC Ahmed said: “You could feel the heat straight away. The fire was so intense. We ran over to the petrol forecourt and grabbed a couple of fire extinguishers and started tackling the blaze, but the fire was so fierce you couldn’t get within five feet of it.”
But as PC Towle attempted to douse the flames the car engine exploded, causing him to drop the fire extinguisher.
He ran back to drag it free, fearing it would explode like “a grenade”.
PC Ahmed added: “We realised that if the fire got to the fuel tank it would set off the car next to it, blow out the windows on the houses behind it, and possibly take out the petrol station too. There would have been mass casualties from the explosion.”
The quick-thinking officers smashed the window of the second car, lifted the handbrake and moved the vehicle out of the way, just seconds before another blast from the burning car rocked the street.
Fire services arrived soon after and put out the fire, but the two officers have been hailed as heroes for averting disaster.
Neighbour Andrew Honey, 29, said: “Their quick thinking saved a lot of damage.”
PC Ahmed said: “I think anybody would have done the same. You’re trained to deal with situations like this. I’ve never had to do it before but instinct just kicks in.” |
 |
|
| |
| Your Comments: |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
