Firefighters to the rescue pumping in mains water to replenish Hadley Green Brewery Pond after fish suffocated from lack of oxygen

London Fire Brigade has stepped in to help save any remaining fish by adding up to a foot of water into the Brewery Pond on Hadley Green.

Barnet Council and the Environment Agency say they will consider whether any further steps can be taken to aerate the pond after a dozen or more carp were found floating on the surface.

Local anglers have praised the fire brigade’s initiative.

They hope more water can be added to the Totteridge Long Pond where some dead fish have also had to be removed and were again thought to have suffocated due to a shortage of oxygen.

Hadley Green residents appealed for help after dead carp were removed from their pond.

Harriet Duffield, Barnet Council’s biodiversity and conservation officer, has informed them that the fire brigade pumped water from the mains to refill the pond.

There are reports that some carp have survived, perhaps as many as six or seven, and it is hoped the refill and recent rain will improve the water quality.

Options to be discussed with the Environment Agency for increasing the dissolved oxygen in the water include the possibility of adding a chemical or aerating the pond with a pump.

“Hopefully we can come up with a method which will prevent this happening again as I am sure it will only become more common with increasingly hot and dry summers,” said Ms Duffield.

Members of the Millridge Angling Club in Totteridge Lane have become increasingly concerned about the low level of water in the Long Pond where fishing has been suspended because of the drought.

The Long Pond, which is regularly stocked with fish including carp, roach and tench, is one of three ponds along Totteridge Lane.

London Fire Brigade took a large quantity of water from the Hadley Green Brewery Pond in May last year when fighting a large fire across the green at Hollybush House.

Residents say the water level did not fully recover during the winter and the drought and prolonged dry spell this summer reduced the water level to the lowest level since the drought of 1976 when fish were taken from the pond and moved to a large pond on the Wrotham Park estate.