Firefighters attend electric heater fire in Banbury

It happened at about 12.15pm and on arrival fire crews found the remains of an electric heater melted into the burned bedroom carpet.

Mark O’Connor, watch manager from Banbury Fire Station said: “Fortunately the quick thinking resident unplugged the electric fire from the socket when they realised what was happening, and smothered the fire with a blanket. These actions undoubtedly prevented the fire from spreading to the rest of the bedroom.”

“The family were very lucky as there were no working smoke alarms in the property and the occupants were all downstairs when the fire started. It was just luck that one of them went upstairs and found the fire. If the fire had continued undiscovered for another 1-2 minutes the whole bedroom would have been alight.”

Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service urge people to take extra care when using portable electrical heating devices, especially now that the weather has turned colder and recommend that they are not used overnight and only turned on when they can be monitored.

It is also very important that you have working smoke alarms on each level of your home.

Visit www.365alive.co.uk for safety advice or if you have a safety question call the free phone community safety helpline on 08000 325 999.