Routine exercise ended in tragedy at fire station

HE was just 30 years old and an only child.
Maurice Evans’ death in a routine training exercise at Manchester Road’s fire station rocked the community.

He was a man with everything to live for, a loving fiancee called Margaret and a reputation as a “popular character� who was always ready for a laugh.
But all of that was gone on one November evening in 1956 when Maurice turned up for work.
Peter Walton, who can be seen second from the left on the photograph featured in Pic From the Past on April 20, was on duty that fateful day.

He told LookBack: “Annually Her Majesty’s Fire Inspector would come and one of the things that would usually take place was a few drills in the yard to show how effective the training was.
“In those days it was Fire and Ambulance together and Maurice was on ambulance that night but because we were putting on a show he was told to go on the turntable ladder to help out a bit.
“The ladder went up but unfortunately it was a bit gusty, which isn’t something you really notice on the ground.
“Once the ladder got beyond the height of the law courts, the wind hit and before it had chance to correct itself, the wind hit again and the ladder crashed to the ground.�

Walter Ackers had just finished a day shift and had handed over to Maurice’s team just hours before the tragedy occurred.
He said: “It’s difficult to explain, we just couldn’t believe it had happened, it was like a big family in those days.�
Walter’s wife, Kathleen Ackers’ sister was engaged to Maurice.
Kathleen said: “She was devastated and, as a nurse, stayed with him while he was in hospital until he died.
“It was just terrible.�

Jean Unsworth remembers the effect the death had on the Evans family.
She said: “We had a corner shop then and the mother used to come in and she was devastated because they only had him, he was the only one.�

Peter Walton added: “He was a popular character.
“You expect if you go out for a fire there will be risks, but when you’re just doing a simple exercise in the yard to satisfy an inspection then it really hits home.�