Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service crews were called on Sunday to Newnham Bridge, to help rescue sheep that had managed to get stuck on a steep ledge near a river.
A spokesperson for Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (Tenbury Fire Station) said:
“It’s been a busy day for us at Tenbury today. The day started with a nationwide failure of the 999 system.
“Measures were immediately put into place to receive emergency calls to our control room, and the station was crewed to receive “running calls” from the public at the fire station in the event of being unable to call us.
“This afternoon we were called with the Environment Protection Unit to a barge on fire near Droitwich.
“On our arrival the fire was out but we were asked to deploy an oil sorbent boom around the barge in case of any oil spillage into the canal.
“Our crew prepared the boom and fed it onto the water while a water team using a sled pulled it into position around the boat.
“While at this incident our remaining crew were mobilised in our fire engine to standby at Bromsgrove Fire Station due to depleted fire cover.
“Later on we were mobilised with our fire engine to a sheep trapped on a steep ledge on the river bank around 15 feet down near Newnham Bridge.
“The animal rescue team from Bromyard Fire Station also attended and the incident commander also requested our water first responder team attend to assist and for downstream safety measures to be put in place.
“The crew waded into the water and carried the sheep back to safety.”
