Firefighter hauled out of pool as blaze raged

The 41-year-old fell into the water – which appeared to be solid ground – just before 10pm on Tuesday night at the Levenseat Waste management site south of Fauldhouse, West Lothian.

He was pulled out by a colleague and given first aid before being taken to St John's Hospital in Livingston suffering from slight hypothermia. Fire chiefs say an accident investigation will now be carried out to determine exactly what happened. It comes a month after another investigation was launched when a Lothian firefighter almost drowned during a training incident on the River Tweed.

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said: "Crews were engaged in fighting the fire at Fauldhouse throughout the night in challenging conditions."

We are reassured that our colleague is recovering well at home."

Fire crews had got the call to attend the blaze at the landfill site on the A706 at 9:30pm after a report that a large pile of wood and compost materials were on fire.

The firefighter got into trouble after stepping into water which, in the dark, he believed to be solid ground. He fell into what turned out to be water around two metres deep.

It is understood that after being rescued the firefighter had to be stripped of his protective clothing by his crew amid concerns about what was in the water.

He was also given medication at the hospital after it emerged he had swallowed some of the water.

He was released a few hours later, at around 2:30am.

More than ten firefighters, including a crew from Strathclyde, attended to fight the fire, which could be seen for miles around. They were continuing to bring it under control yesterday.

In the incident last month, a 43-year-old firefighter from Edinburgh was rushed to hospital when the training exercise on the River Tweed went wrong and he disappeared under the water.

Colleagues rushed to find and then resuscitate him on the river bank.