New trial sees first trees sawn
Fallen trees in Chazey Heath, Oxford, Hook Norton and Harpsden cleared by our team.
The county council’s Fire and Rescue Service has tackled its first trees felled by bad weather, under a new trial.
Trained firefighters from the Specialist Rescue Team are now turning out to remove dangerous fallen trees from the highway.
Until now the county councils contractors deal with all fallen trees on the road but it is thought that in many circumstances a “blue light” response could restore safety and traffic flows more quickly. The county council’s regular contractors will remain available to do this work if the fire service has more pressing priorities.
So far the team has been to incidents at:
Chazey Close, Chazey Heath
Woodstock Road, Oxford
Bourne Lane, Hook Norton
Devils Hill, Harpsden
Only trees that fall onto roads are dealt with by the fire service - trees falling on private land remain the responsibility of the owners and emergency call outs will remain the fire service’s top priority.