Ambulance catches fire while responding to 999 call
An ambulance caught fire while on route to a 999 call in the West Midlands.
The blaze broke out near the Scott Arms pub on Walsall Road in Great Barr at around 8.45pm on Wednesday.
Pictures shared on social media showed smoke pouring from the ambulance, which had its back door open.
Fire crews were soon at the scene and the flames were quickly extinguished and a second ambulance was sent to respond to the original emergency call.
The fire-hit vehicle suffered serious external damage but no damage is thought to have been caused inside meaning the equipment can still be used.
A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said the blaze is thought to have started accidentally.
Nobody was injured during the incident and the fire has been described as "very unusual" by the ambulance service.
A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "West Midlands Ambulance Service can confirm that one of its ambulances caught fire whilst on route to a 999 call just before 9pm in Birmingham last night.
"The ambulance crew, who were responding to a 999 call on blue lights and sirens, alerted the trust's Emergency Operations Centre that the vehicle was smoking and subsequently on fire.
"The EOC quickly alerted the fire service and also assigned a second ambulance to respond to the original 999 call.
"The fire service was quickly on scene and extinguished the fire, but the ambulance suffered significant external damage.
"The vehicle is not thought to have suffered any internal damage, and the equipment inside is retrievable.
"Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident. The vehicle has been recovered where the cause of the fire will be forensically investigated; because the trust has no vehicle over five years old, fires are very unusual so establishing the cause is extremely important."
