Fire crews tackle chimney fire on Holy Island
Northumberland Fire and Rescue, Holy Island Coastguard and Seahouses RNLI were all called in after the fire in a terraced house.
Fire crews from Belford and Berwick had just been able to cross the causeway, where the tide was flooding, but Seahouses RNLI was asked to take a third crew from Wooler and a senior fire officer over to the island shortly before 4am.
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Hide AdThere is a fire engine on Holy Island, but there is no one on the island trained to use it.
The RNLI has a protocol in place for the Berwick and Seahouses lifeboat crews to help in transporting fire crews to Holy Island if required, and this procedure has been successfully practised in joint training exercises.
When the fire had been extinguished safely, the Wooler fire crew returned to Seahouses aboard the lifeboat to collect their vehicle.
The lifeboat returned to station after its second call-out in 12 hours.
Yesterday afternoon, the inshore lifeboat rescued two people from the refuge box on Holy Island causeway after their van was swamped by the incoming tide.