AN Aberystwyth councillor has raised concerns over the town centre’s ability to deal with serious fires, after water to extinguish flames at a burning hotel on the seafront had to be pumped from elsewhere in town.

Cllr Ceredig Davies, who praised the fire service’s efforts in bringing the raging fire at Ty Belgrave House hotel under control early last Wednesday morning, said it was “surprising and disconcerting” that there was “the need to bring water all the way from the vicinity of the Vicarage Field to the promenade”.

“The reason being that this is where the fire brigade could tap into a water main with enough pressure to serve the needs of all the appliances,” Cllr Davies said.

“One would expect there to be enough capacity and water pressure in the town centre to tackle such fires.”

Water was also pumped from a tanker parked in Llanbadarn Road in a bid to tackle the blaze, but Welsh Water said that pressure was “maintained at normal levels” throughout the incident, and there was “no indication of low pressure or service interruptions”.

A Welsh Water spokesperson told the Cambrian News: “We provided support to the fire service to draw water to tackle the fire on Aberystwyth seafront in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“As is normal in these situations, this included providing access filling points for fire service engines.

“Tenders were able to refill at points with off-road access which allowed easier access to the emergency crews.

“We are not aware of any indication of low pressure or service interruptions to this supply and our own information indicates we were able to maintain pressure at normal levels.

“We work closely with the fire services across Wales in any incidents like these to make sure they have access to as much water as is needed to tackle fires quickly and safely.”

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