Resident seriously injured after leaping from window after blaze breaks out at tower block in city
A resident is seriously injured after jumping from a window due to a tower block fire as plumes of black smoke billowed across a city area.
The fire at Montreal House on Benmore Avenue in Edgbaston saw ten fire crews from across Birmingham called out at 7.52am, with reports indicating the fire was taking place in a third floor flat.
The first crew arrived within three minutes of the call at at the storey-building and used hoses and the hydraulic platform to tackle the fire.
Firefighters and paramedics also provided medical care to man who they believed had jumped to safety and had suffered life-threatening injuries in the process.
He was conveyed on blue lights to Queen Elizabeth Hospital after receiving advanced trauma care from paramedics at the scene.
The fire was put under control and confirmed as out at around 10.30am, with one crew staying behind to check for hot sports and restore power to the affected building, with the fire confirmed to have affected half of the flat and smoke damage across the third-floor lobby area.
A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said: "Ten fire crews have responded to a fire in a flat on the third floor of a high-rise building in Edgbaston. The fire is now out.
"We started to receive 999 calls at 7.52am today, Tuesday 3 October, to Montreal House on Benmore Avenue.
"Our first crew arrived within three minutes of being mobilised to the 12-storey building.
"Firefighters and paramedics gave medical care to a man who is believed to have jumped to safety from a window. He has been taken to hospital.
"Fire affected half of the flat in which it broke out, although the whole flat and third-floor lobby area were affected by smoke.
"We have scaled down our resources at this incident to three fire engines and the hydraulic aerial platform.
’Work is ongoing to restore power to the affected building, which was isolated when we extinguished the fire.
"The hydraulic aerial platform is in use for an external inspection of the affected flat.
"One fire engine remains at the scene as we continue checking for hotspots. A full search of all affected properties has been carried out and a number of people will be rehomed and are being assisted by Citizen Housing.
"Benmore Avenue has fully reopened."
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 7.56am by the fire service to a fire at a property on Benmore Avenue in Edgbaston in Birmingham.
"One ambulance, two paramedic officers, the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), a MERIT trauma doctor and critical care paramedic and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance attended the scene.
"Upon arrival we found a man with potentially life threatening injuries.
"He received advanced trauma care at the scene and was conveyed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital via land ambulance for further treatment.”
