Passerby saves woman in blaze house

PROMPT action by a passerby almost certainly saved an elderly woman’s life at Warrington.
Ewan Roger was walking along Freshwater Close at Great Sankey when he heard a smoke alarm sounding in a house.
Then he smelled smoke – and tried to raise the alarm.
But he could not rouse the occupant and had to go next door where the occupants dialled 999.
Fire crews wearing breathing apparatus forced their way into the house and tackled a fierce kitchen fire with a hosereel – and later found an 89-year-old upstairs in her bedroom watching television!
She was unaware of the fire burning downstairs.
A firefighter who attended the blaze said: “The lady is quite deaf and was unaware that anything untoward was going on.
Ten firefighters were beating on her door and she did not hear them. Her smoke alarm was sounding but she could not hear that either.
“She had a conventional smoke alarm, but there is a special one for people who are hard-of-hearing and we will be fitting one in the house as soon as possible.
“But it was prompt action by the passerby that saved this lady. These days, so many people ignore alarms, but he did not. But for him, we would almost have certainly been dealing with a fatality.”
The fire, at 8pm last night (Monday) was caused by an unattended cooker, caused extensive damage in the kitchen, but fortunately the door was closed and prevented flames spreading to the rest of the house.