Appeal sounded after family evacuated from Waltham house fire

A mum, who declined to be named, quickly got her two young children out of their property, in Windsor Road, Waltham, on Friday afternoon after being alerted by their smoke alarm.

Two fire crews from Melton attended the incident, which happened at 4.33pm.

Incident commander Scott Smith said: “When we arrived, the family were standing on the path outside and the house was heavily smoke-logged.

“Two breathing apparatus wearers were rapidly deployed with a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire.”

He added: “An investigation into the cause of the fire found that a small electrical appliance situated too close to the hob ignited,causing fire damage to the hob and units and smoke damage throughout the property.

“The owner had just put a pan of potatoes on to boil and nipped up the stairs to put some items in her loft.

“She was alerted a short while after by her smoke alarm so she proceeded back downstairs to check what was going on to find smoke logging.

“She immediately got her two young children out of the property and dialled 999.”

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is currently promoting a ‘test it Tuesday’ campaign, where residents are encouraged to test their fire alarms once a week to ensure they are working.

Firefighter Smith added: “Smoke alarms save lives and every home should have them fitted.

“They alert you, like the Windsor Road incident, to the early developments of a fire and enable you to get yourself and family members out before calling the fire brigade.”