Rocket terror for girl, nine in her bath

Nov 7 2007 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

A YOUNG girl was left “hysterical” after a firework blasted through the bathroom window of her family’s home while she was in the bath.

Police were yesterday looking at how the rocket came to enter the house on Didcot Avenue, on the Meadow Well estate in North Shields, on Monday night.

Officers suggested that the firework probably hit the house accidentally, but the nine-year-old and her mother were both said to be deeply shocked.

Both stayed elsewhere on Monday night while a fire crew dealt with a small amount of damage to the house and police began their investigation. Yesterday they were too upset to speak, but neighbours told of the worrying moments after the firework landed in the house. Jane Ritson, 48, a cleaner, who lives opposite the family, was one of many concerned neighbours to gather in the street.

She said: “I had come outside for a cigarette and the girl’s mum was hysterical. She was crying uncontrollably, absolutely crying her eyes out.

“People were saying it was a firework that had gone through a window into the house and the girl had been in the bath. They got the girl straight out and brought her outside and into another house with a sheet wrapped around her.

“She was fine but she was obviously very shocked. She got a real fright.”

Another woman, who did not want to be named, thought the girl was very lucky to have escaped serious injury. “Thank God she’s all right,” she said.

“Everyone was saying she is lucky to be alive and it is such a shock when something like that happens.

“I have young girls and the thought of something like that happening to them is horrible. I think fireworks should be banned completely.”

The incident comes just days after a 14-month-old girl was rescued by her off-duty firefighter father.

The girl had been put to bed in Slatyford, Newcastle, on Friday but minutes later, a firework smashed through the bedroom window. After the Bonfire Night incident in North Shields, police were outside the property throughout Monday night and yesterday morning.

Supt Peter Farrell, of North Tyneside area command, said: “We are treating it as an accident involving a firework.

“We have got nothing to suggest it was anything more sinister, although it does show the danger of fireworks if not at a proper authorised display.”

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Safety campaign eases toll

FIRE chiefs in the region have praised an advertising campaign on firework safety after Bonfire Night passed relatively free of disasters.

Tyne and Wear rescue service received 998 calls on Monday – traditionally one of their busiest days of the year. The figure compares favourably with last year’s total of 1,233.

Meanwhile, there were eight bonfire and firework related calls to the North-East Ambulance Service and 694 incidents dealt with by Northumbria Police.

This follows a five-week campaign including a TV advert thought so shocking that it was banned before 7.30pm.

Richard Bull, chief fire officer with Tyne and Wear fire and rescue service, said: “We feel confident that the majority of people listened and adhered to our ‘Fireworks and bonfires ruin lives in a flash’ campaign messages.”