Alarm saves little Charlotte’s life

The sole smoke alarm in the hallway of a Timaru couple’s home was enough to save the life of their 18-month-old daughter after a fire broke out in her bedroom, and now they are urging all families to ensure they have alarms installed.

Haylee and Jacques Mouton woke in the early hours of Wednesday morning to find smoke filling the bedroom of their daughter Charlotte.

The smoke was coming from an electrical fire which was started by a panel wall heater, Jacques Mouton said.

However, it was not the sole smoke alarm which had woken the couple, but rather the fact Haylee needed to use the bathroom.

‘‘We were pretty lucky,’’ Jacques Mouton said.

Haylee said as she made her way to the bathroom she heard the smoke alarm sounding off in the hallway.

That was the only thing that alerted the pair to the fire in Charlotte’s bedroom, she said.

The couple ran into the bedroom to find smoke filling the room from floor to ceiling, while Charlotte lay asleep in her cot, he said.

They got Charlotte out, opened the windows and managed to extinguish the fire, before calling 111.

Charlotte had not inhaled any smoke, he said.

The following day the couple fitted every room of their house with smoke alarms and they were encouraging others to do the same.

‘‘You don’t have to [have smoke alarms in every room] but its good for peace of mind.’’

‘‘It’s such a small thing, it’s $5 [per old style smoke alarm] it’s hardly going to break the bank,’’ he said.

Following their experience, Haylee said it was especially important those with young families install alarms.

Jacques agreed, ‘‘you would jump in front of a bullet for these guys, you just don’t want anything to happen to them’’.

Fire Safety Officer Craig Chambers agreed the Mouton’s had been lucky and described the incident as a ‘‘near miss’’.

If it had not been for the smoke alarm in the hallway, the incident could have been a lot worse, Chambers said.

‘‘It could have been really bad, if not for the smoke alarm.’’