Local Fire and Rescue units were kept busy on Thursday, attending to two incidents of concern.
The first was at Mordue Parade at Jesmond where a paperbark tree has caught fire near the Bowling Club, thankfully quick thinking neighbours managed to extinguish it prior to crews arriving.
They gave the tree a soak with the hose to make sure it wouldn’t spark again.
Shortly after that, they were called to the University of Newcastle’s Advanced Technology Unit, where they were met with thick plumes of smoke in the lower levels of the complex. They quickly found the source to be contained in a small room.
Crews opened the room where a furnace – in excess of 500 degrees – was pouring black smoke into the room from an exhaust pipe.
The power to the room was isolated and the situation was eventually brought under control, however an automated fire alarm in the nearby accommodation section then took the focus of firefighters.
Thankfully it was a false alarm.