Snip!t from collection of Alan Dix

<p>Many emergency services around the country are making use of social media to track and monitor fires.</p> <p>One particular incident, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16810472">a large blaze in west London in January</a>, had firefighters scouring social media to get as much information about the incident as possible.</p> <p>Due to the police helicopter not being available, the LFB turned to its Twitter followers who were in the area to take pictures and describe the scene.</p> <p>Information was relayed back to experts at headquarters who were able to make an assessment as to the severity of the situation.</p> <!-- Embedding the video player --> <!-- This is the embedded player component --> <!-- wwrights check --> <!-- Empty country is used on test environment --> <div class="videoInStoryC"> <div style="position: relative; cursor: pointer; height: 180px;" id="emp-16810472-11073" class="emp page-bookmark-link-aware"><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58205000/jpg/_58205648_jex_1306697_de27-1.jpg" height="180" width="320"><a style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); opacity: 0.75; width: 80px; height: 80px; display: block; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 50%; margin-top: -40px;" title="Click to play"></a><a style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0); opacity: 0; width: 80px; height: 80px; display: block; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 50%; margin-top: -40px;" title="Click to play"></a><div style="background-image: url(&quot;http://emp.bbci.co.uk/emp/releases/worldwide/revisions/749603_749269_749444_6/cta_play.png&quot;); width: 27px; height: 36px; display: block; position: absolute; top: 50%; left: 26px; margin-top: -18px;"></div></div> <!-- companion banner --> <!-- END - companion banner --> <!-- caption --> <p class="caption">At its height, about 75 firefighters tackled the blaze</p> <!-- END - caption --> </div> <!-- end of the embedded player component --> <!-- Player embedded --> <p>Without help from social media, the LFB said, it would have taken longer to control the fire.</p>