Horse rescued from Soham swimming pool during busy afternoon for fire crews

Firefighters had a busy afternoon in Soham yesterday, rescuing a horse that had fallen into a swimming pool and extinguishing trees that were on fire at around the same time.

At 4.37pm two crews from Cambridge and one from Newmarket were called to a home in The Coates to rescue a horse that had fallen into a private pool.

Station Commander Dave Allen said the horse had escaped from a paddock directly behind the house and had fallen into the pool, into about three feet of water, and was unable to get out.
“The horse was getting very cold because the swimming pool water was very, very cold. It was fairly calm but fairly shivery so we wanted to get it out as safely and quickly as we could.”
SC Allen said specialist animal crews improvised a ramp from one that was used on the back of a horse box.
“They secured it with ropes and put a head harness on the horse before leading it up the ramp and out of the pool.
Crews returned to their stations by 6.40pm.
At around the same time an Ely crew was called to Sand Street, where some trees had accidentally been set on fire. A hose reel was used to put out the blaze.