Escape from fire

A man in a flat with no smoke alarms had a lucky escape when thecooker in his kitchen caught fire while he was asleep. Fire crewswere called to Linley Close in Twerton last Thursday night toreports of a fire in a six-storey block of flats. When they arrivedthey found the first floor flat was smoke-logged, and they wereunable to get an answer from inside. Two firefighters forced theirway in and found a man asleep. He was taken outside and treated forsmoke inhalation by paramedics, before being taken to the RoyalUnited Hospital as a precaution. The fire was caused by a pan leftunattended on the cooker which had caught fire, causing extensivesmoke damage to the flat.

Firefighters put it out, and then spent time fitting smokealarms, as there was none in the flat.