One fire appliance has been written off, and a second may also be beyond repair following the major blaze at Castletown and Malew Fire and Ambulance Station.
Chief Fire Officer Mark Christian has also revealed how the quick actions of one on-call firefighter helped save PPE and essential lifesaving equipment as the fire took hold on Thursday evening.
An investigation into the cause is continuing, with fire investigators concentrating on the station’s appliance room, where the blaze started.
Mr Christian said the alarm was raised shortly after 5.20pm.
Speaking to Isle of Man Today, he said: ‘One of our on-call firefighters happened to be on the station and took the opportunity to have a look into the appliance room, where they quickly discovered a substantial fire.’
The firefighter managed to rescue equipment from another part of the building before crews from neighbouring stations arrived.
Mr Christian said: ‘The quick actions of that individual rescued quite a lot of equipment out of the ancillary side of the building and saved a lot of our PPE and essential lifesaving equipment.’
The building is divided between an appliance room and an administration block, with the fire contained to the former.
The fire at the station
Investigators are now examining the appliances and whether anything on or associated with them could have been involved.
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Mr Christian said the Fire and Rescue Service’s investigation team had been at the scene on Friday and its work would continue over the weekend.
An insurance assessor and forensic investigator are expected to become involved from Monday.
Two fire appliances inside the station suffered extensive damage.
Asked whether both were write-offs, Mr Christian said: ‘I think you’ll see from the one over my shoulder, one of them is certainly a write-off. It’s too early to say with the second appliance.’
However, replacement appliances have already been brought to the station and crews remain on standby.
Mr Christian stressed that fire cover in the Castletown and Malew area had not been affected.
He said: ‘Although we’ve clearly lost these appliances in the short term, we’ve got a capability here operating from this station.’
He added: ‘If they call 999, a fire engine will turn up as they expect.’
The site is shared with the Ambulance Service and staff were present when the fire broke out.
They were able to evacuate safely and move their vehicle from the station.
Mr Christian confirmed that while some ambulance equipment had been lost, no ambulance vehicles were damaged.
Two firefighters were treated at the scene after suffering minor injuries.
Mr Christian said these involved smoke inhalation and heat stress.
Both were cared for at the scene by ambulance staff, although one subsequently required additional medical treatment.
The investigation into the cause of the blaze is continuing.