A disabled woman in her 50s has died in a flat blaze during the firefighter strike yesterday (Thursday).

Fire crews were sent to Risby, in North Bretton, Peterborough, at 5.38pm and arrived 11 minutes later. The fire was extinguished by 6.32pm but a woman was found dead at the scene.

Some damage was caused to the flat above.

Chief fire officer Graham Stagg said: “Three crews - one from Dogsthorpe, one from Stanground and an on-call crew - responded to the incident immediately and arrived in the time we normally would, with the same number of crews as usual, had FBU members not been striking. The on-call crew was returned to base as it was not required at the scene.

“Unfortunately a disabled female resident was already deceased on our arrival.

“This is exactly the sort of incident we are trying to prevent by working with partners and other organisations in Cambridgeshire.

“In one week we have tragically seen the death of two vulnerable residents with medical conditions. These are the very people we are trying to identify in our community so we can help and educate them about fire risks in their home to prevent these fires from happening.

“If you know someone in your street, on your estate or in your community who you think is vulnerable, please, contact the fire service so we can ensure everyone in our community has the best chance to be protected against fire.

“Our thoughts go out to the friends and family of the victims at this time.”

Sir Peter Brown, chairman of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority, added: “Yesterday’s fatality in Peterborough is a tragedy that everyone will come to terms with. On behalf of the Cambridgeshire Fire Service, I extend our condolences to the family of the lady who died.

“I know the members of our service reacted in their usual professional way to this call and maximum efforts were made to deal with the incident.

“I am proud of our firefighters and resilience teams who continue to do everything to protect local residents from such tragedies.”

Last Friday an elderly man died in a house fire in Ely.