Mother and child escape house fire

Dec 31 2007

A WOMAN fled to safety with her young child after a candle started a fire at their Midland home as they slept.

The 24-year-old woman, whose house at Wolverhampton had no smoke alarms, was asleep in a bedroom with her two-year-old boy when the sound of something falling in the bathroom woke her up to discover the fire.

She grabbed her son and dashed downstairs to call the fire service before making her way outside to safety.

Firefighters from Tettenhall and Fallings Park stations tackled the outbreak, which hit the semi-detached house in Beech Road, Oxley, about 1.40 am on Saturday.

They disconnected the gas and electricity supplies to deal with the blaze, which destroyed most of the bathroom and caused extensive smoke damage to other upstairs rooms.

Watch Commander Clazz Ebanks of Tettenhall fire station said that with no smoke detector, it was fortunate the woman woke up to discover and escape from the blaze.

"The fire was caused by a burning candle which had been left on the edge of the fibreglass bath. It fell on to some clothing on the floor and set it alight and the flames spread to the bath," he said.

He added: "If people use a candle they should put it in a proper receptacle at all times."