A twenty year old woman was today carried to safety by firefighters from her burning flat in Craven Arms.
After receiving a call at 4.45am, three crews from Craven Arms, Ludlow and Church Stretton were sent to the scene and on arrival discovered smoke and flames coming from the window of a second floor flat.
The crews were informed that the occupier of the flat was still inside the building and two teams wearing breathing apparatus entered the premises where the young woman was discovered on the floor suffering from severe smoke inhalation. After being carried from the scene, she was given oxygen therapy until the ambulance crews arrived and she was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
The occupants of the block were alerted to the fire when the automatic fire alarm sounded and one of the residents notified the fire service. Eight adults and three children had to leave the block of flats for around one hour until the fire service deemed it safe to allow them to return to their homes.
Incident Commander Kevin Maddox said, "This incident shows the benefits of having a correctly maintained smoke detector / automatic fire alarm system installed, as early notification of the fire was given due to the actuation of the alarm.
"In this instance it undoubtedly saved the young occupiers life and early identification of the fire enabled the fire service to be quickly notified which in turn resulted in reduced fire damage to the property."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the fire service.
