In episode three, we talk to Paul O’Brien who shares his story of a devastating house fire which began from a seemingly innocent disposable bbq which he placed into a wheelie bin after a day of celebrations back in 2021. The waste from these items can remain hot enough to cause a fire for far longer than people realise. For Paul a £2 disposable bbq caused over £100k of damage and placed him and his family into temporary housing for 2 years.

Together with Paul, we would like to raise the awareness of the dangers these items can pose and how the safe disposal of the hot waste is extremely important. If in any doubt, always douse a disposable bbq with water or tip it into a metal container in a safe place and ensure the contents are fully extinguished before ultimately disposing of it. For more information about barbecues and chimenea safety, please head to our website on www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/bbq

Paul also reflects on his new venture as an on-call firefighter at Lytham and provides an exclusive insight into how his family have found this new role following their house fire, his emotions at his first incident and how it feels to protect his local community. If you would like to know more about becoming an on-call firefighter visit www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/oncall

And remember if you liked our episode, please like and subscribe and let’s make Lancashire safer together.