Bournemouth Woman Rescued From Flat

Dorset fire crews have rescued a woman from her Bournemouth flat after some unattended cooking caught fire.

Crews from Springbourne, Christchurch and Westbourne were called to a ground floor flat in Manor Road at 18.17 on Tuesday 6th December 2011, following a 999call to the address. 

They discovered a smoke filled flat and a woman shouting for help from the bedroom window. Crews used breaking-in equipment to remove the security grille and remove the lady to safety, placing a blanket under the window. 

Her husband had managed to escape from a patio door and also raised the alarm. Incident Commander, Dave Prior, said:

 "A pan of oil had been left to heat on the cooker. The lady had gone to take ashower and ran into the bedroom when she smelled the smoke and her husband shouting. She had seen a TV programme about shutting the door to keep the smoke out, which she had duly done. She forgot to lay material under the door to stop smoke coming in underneath, but was understandably not thinking clearly."

Crews used four sets of breathing apparatus and two hose reel jets to extinguish the fire in the kitchen. Dave added;

 "Although the security grilles definitely hampered her escape, we were able to access her quickly and relatively easily using cutting equipment due to the flat being on the ground floor. Unattended cooking is one of our major causes of fires in the home. I cannot stress enough how important it is not to leave anything on the grill or in the oven or on the hob if you are going to leave the room for any length of time. You should also make sure that you do have escape plans should you experience a fire and most importantly of all - get a smoke alarm and test it regularly. The couple were very lucky that they were able to either escape or be rescued by us - but we'd much prefer that such incidents didn't happen in the first place. A few simple prevention tools such as working smoke alarms and not leaving cooking unattended, will make occupants much more fire safe in their homes."

The lady received treatment for smoke inhalation by paramedics at the scene.