A mother and child have been rescued from a house fire in Dawley after neighbours heard the smoke alarm next door and contacted the fire service.
Fire crews from Telford and Wellington, along with an Incident Commander from Shrewsbury, were sent to the fire just after 4am this morning, where it was reported that there were people inside the house.
On arrival fire crews observed that the house was smoke logged and attempted to wake the occupants by banging on the door. This was unsuccesful so entry was forced through the front door and firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered and searched the building. They found a mother and a small child asleep upstairs and led them to safety where they were treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics.
The fire was confined to foodstuffs in a microwave in the downstairs kitchen but the entire house was affected by smoke.
Incident Commander Sub Officer Peter Hawkins said, "The mother and child must have been in a very deep sleep and simply failed to hear the activated smoke alarms that were in working order. The prompt actions of the neighbour prevented what could have been a tragic loss of two lives."
"Smoke can be a killer just like fire itself and this is yet another example of smoke alarms saving lives, albeit on this occasion, in an unusual manner"
Advice on installing smoke detectors and other fire safety issues is available from Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service by telephoning Community Fire Safety on 01743 260 260.
