Heroic WDH employees come to the rescue in sub-zero South Elmsall

As far as heroes go, last Wednesday evening several employees from Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) demonstrated what heroism is all about.

At 5pm on Wednesday 6 January the Independent Living Scheme Manager at Mellwood House reported to WDH’s contact centre, OneCALL, that the elderly tenants there had no heat or hot water.

With the sub-zero temperatures worsening by the minute, WDH sprang into action.

OneCALL dispatched the WDH on-call Emergency Mechanical Engineer, Steve Dodson, who arrived on site to investigate the problem at 5:30pm.

On arrival at the site, Steve stepped into the room where the gas boilers and hot water cylinder were located and walked straight into two feet of freezing cold water.

A blocked drain was causing dangerous flooding.

Temporary heaters were issued immediately to the residents whilst the required emergency resources, plant and equipment were organised.

Hayley Bonnington, a Team Leader in our Independent Living Team Service helped, advised and reassured residents of the events.

Gas Engineer Dave Hardisty and Drains Engineer Tony Pullin arrived soon after to deal with the situation.

With time against them, and with the weather outside plummeting, the gas boilers were lit at 9pm – with the heating and hot water restored to the grateful residents of Mellwood House.

(A fleet of buses and four-wheel drives were standing by to take residents to safe locations throughout the district in case repairs couldn’t be made).

The situation was closely monitored by WDH employees throughout the night, and thankfully the elderly and frail residents had a sound and warm night’s sleep.

Mellwood tenant Mrs Winnie Simm said she was surprised how quickly WDH began fixing the repairs.

“I noticed the heating was down in the evening and went to mention it to the manager,” Winnie, 71, recalled. “I was told the WDH people were on their way, and boy did they move quickly!

“They must have got home very late that night, because they were here for a long time fixing it up. We got some temporary heaters and were kept warm.

“They were heroes.”

Another tenant, Jean Cooper, said she was initially worried when she learned the heating had gone down on one of the coldest nights in many years.

“I thought that WDH must have been very busy with the weather like it is, so I imagined they would take ages to get round to us. So when they showed up and got to work I was surprised.

“They did it in good time and really saved the day.”

Martyn Durant, Service Director – Independent Living, said he was very proud of what his team had achieved for the residents.

“We had to affect repairs and work continuously through the night operating under very harsh and freezing conditions to restore heating for our residents.

“The fact that we were able to restore heating under these conditions with little time to spare is testament to how WDH is committed to ensuring that services continue as normal, despite these adverse conditions.”