Smoke alarms save occupants during house fire in Wiltshire village
Firefighters left the scene late last night (Wednesday 16th February)
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service say occupants of a house fire in a Wiltshire village were saved by working smoke alarms.
They were called to a property in Greenlands in Heytesbury at 8:55am yesterday morning after reports of it being well alight.
The occupants were alerted by the smoke alarm – a woman who was upstairs initially received fire survival guidance over the phone by a 999 operator in Fire Control, before being helped to escape via a window by a member of the public.
A man was able to leave the property via the front door.
The fire is believed to have been caused by a fault in the oil-fired boiler, located in the ground floor kitchen of the house.
At the height of the incident, crews were in attendance from Warminster, Westbury, Frome, Trowbridge, Salisbury (x2) and Shaftesbury, supported by the aerial ladder platform from Yeovil and an incident command unit from Devizes.
The two occupants were taken to hospital by ambulance as a precaution, but were later discharged.
The last firefighters left the scene at around 10:30pm last night.
Group Manager Wayne Jones said:
“Although the property was destroyed, the occupants were alerted to the fire by their smoke alarm, which almost certainly saved their lives.”