STROUD District Council leader Steve Lydon keeps you up to date with council matters

AS a landlord, hearing that a fire has broken out in an accommodation block that you own is one of the worst disasters to imagine – let alone a fire involving elderly residents.

However exactly that situation occurred on Saturday, October 1, when a flat in one of our council-owned sheltered units caught fire.

Readers might not be aware that Stroud District Council owns and manages 28 sheltered housing units across the district, housing over 800 residents.

The fire service arrived quickly and dealt with the fire which gutted one property and smoke-damaged three others.

Fortunately there were no injuries and two residents moved temporarily into The Elms nursing home in Stonehouse so their properties could be cleaned, where they were expertly looked after.

By the time fellow councillor Mattie Ross (chair of the council’s housing committee) arrived at the scene she was amazed to find the communal lounge filled with tenants.

With true community spirit, they were supporting one another and enjoying tea and biscuits.

Two off-duty members of the council’s housing team took over later in the afternoon after they had read reports of the fire on Facebook and took it upon themselves to go along and muck in.

A Red Cross mobile unit was also there, whose volunteers are trained to provide counselling and emergency clothing.

The fire service reported that procedures ran smoothly, and that staff had obviously learned lessons from a blaze which occurred several years before.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone who attended the incident.

This includes the fire service, police, Red Cross, the members of staff and of course the residents who coped so stoically with the event.