Blaze couple jump off roof

Jan 1 2007 By Tony Collins

A YOUNG couple leapt to their safety from a first floor roof as flames ripped through a Birmingham shop below.

The man and woman were awoken by shouts from the shop owner when he arrived to open up his store in Tame Road, Witton, at 9am on Saturday.

But the residents were trapped in their first floor flat by the thick smoke coming up from the shop premises below.

They were forced to climb out of a window and jump to safety from a flat roof onto the ground below before firefighters arrived on the scene.

The couple suffered minor injuries in the incident, and also needed treatment at the scene for the effects of smoke inhalation, but they both declined to go to hospital.

Around two dozen firefighters from Aston, Perry Barr, Erdington and Handsworth tackled the blaze, which is still being investigated.

A spokesman for Aston fire station said: "The shop owner arrived to find fire coming from the front roller shutter, but as he tried to get in he was confronted by a wall of smoke.

"He shouted an alarm to the man and woman living above - we believe that saved their lives."

No smoke detectors were installed in the flat, so fire officers remained at the scene to distribute leaflets to other properties and homes in the area offering a free safety check and smoke alarms.

* People were evacuated from the 18-storey Norfolk Tower flats in Lodge Road, Hockley, at 10.40am yesterday after a severe fire broke out in a bedroom on the 15th floor.

The cause of the blaze is being examined by fire and police investigators. One man from a neighbouring flat was treated for the effects of smoke.

A perimeter was erected at the base of the block of flats to protect people from falling glass coming from the bedroom window above.