Man rescued from blaze at flats

9:25am Tuesday 13th February 2007

A Shipley man had a lucky escape when he fell asleep leaving a chip pan on the stove. Fire fighters responded to an automatic alarm at the premises on Crag Road at around 8.30pm last night. When they arrived they discovered the man unconscious on the sofa and the whole flat filled with dense black smoke.

The man was carried from the flat by fire fighters and was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

A spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Service said: "This individual had a lucky escape. If the fire alarm had not alerted us he could well have remained in the smoke-filled flat. Smoke is one of the biggest killers in incidents of this kind.

"This serves as an illustration as to why all homes and premises should be fitted with alarms and that they should be checked regularly. It could save your life.

"There is also another lesson to remind people of here; the dangers of cooking late at night and leaving pans unattended."