Mike Toop – Spreading fire-safety advice among Somerset Travellers

Mike Toop, a retired firefighter, is a man on a mission to spread awareness about fire safety and the lethal dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning among Somerset’s Travellers.

The Traveller’s Times caught up with Mike Toop at the recent Glastonbury Festival, where he was visiting Atchin Tan – a stopping place and exhibition designed to bring Gypsies and Travellers together to both promote understanding and solidarity between the different Travelling people and to promote their ways of life to the wider public.

“I’ve worked for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service for over 40 years, first on operations (fighting fires) and then as a Community Safety Officer,” says Mike Toop. “I’m now retired but I am still retained on a part-time basis.”

Mike Toop (on the right in the photo), along with Edwina Heard, the Gypsy Liaison worker from Somerset County Council, were busy discussing the importance of fire alarms with Romany Gypsy John Doe, who is nomadic and lives full-time in a horse-drawn vardo.

However, most of Mike Toop’s efforts this week will be targeted at New Travellers; an integral part of the thousands-strong crew who arrive up to a month earlier in their live-in vehicles to build, run and perform every year at the massive Glastonbury Festival in Somerset. 

“There’s a lot of New Travellers in Somerset, some live in and around here, but many are also travelling through for work,” says Mike Toop. “At this time of the year, we have them arriving to work at the festival or travelling through to other festivals, in early spring we usually get a few coming in to pick up tree surgery and gardening work,” adds Mike Toop. “Because I’ve been doing this work for a long time, I know many of the regular Travellers and I am trusted by the community.”

Whilst Mike Toop believes that smoke alarms are important, he also promotes the use of alarms that detect carbon monoxide – a deadly gas known as the ‘silent killer’.

“Good ventilation can stop the build-up of carbon monoxide, so in the summer it may not be a problem because the Travellers have their windows and doors open and are also living out doors a lot,” says Mike Toop. “But in the winter, everyone is ‘buttoning down the hatches’ to keep warm, spending more time inside, lighting the burner, and its then that dangerous build ups of carbon monoxide can happen,” explains Mike Toop.

“Carbon monoxide alarms are vital – especially in small live in vehicles and trailers – everyone should have at least one working – all the time.”

Download and read Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service leaflet on fire safety below:

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that can make you seriously ill if you breathe it in. Carbon monoxide can be made by fires and appliances that burn gas, wood, oil or coal.

Carbon monoxide gas is colourless and does not smell, so you cannot tell if it is around you, and it is produced by wood and coal burners, gas fires, cookers and hobs and generators – among other things – all of which are common in and around live-in vehicles and trailers.

The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include:

• headache
• dizziness
• feeling sick or being sick
• feeling weak
• confusion
• chest and muscle pain
• shortness of breath

Travellers' Times Features

(Photo L-R Edwina Heard, John Doe and Mike Toop © TT News)