Flat blaze man leaps
Warning after electric heater blaze
A brave man leapt for his life when a fire tore through his Westwood flat.
East Kilbride fire chief Eddie Kelly told the News the householder had a “lucky escape” when a sofa caught fire and burst into flames in a first-floor flat.
The man jumped 15ft out of a window before 11 fire fighters arrived to tackle the blaze, which saw a flat above engulfed in thick smoke.
A brave young Westwood man leapt for his life out of a firstfloor window as flames ripped through his home.
The householder found himself trapped after his sofa caught fire from an electric heater, setting his sitting room alight within minutes.
As the blazing fire took hold he jumped 15 feet to safety out of a kitchen window and, amazingly, escaped unharmed.
Fire chief Eddie Kelly told the News the man, who is in his mid 20’s, had a lucky escape.
“Because of time of day we got the call we were able to respond quickly – but had this happened at night it could have been a lot worse”, he said.
“We would have been looking at a more serious fire and rescues.
“He’s had a very lucky escape – he had a smoke detector which raised the alarm quickly.”
Fire crews raced to the four-storey block in Trinidad Way last Wednesday afternoon and smashed through the front door in a desperate bid to rescue the man.
Horrified neighbours looked on as 11 firefighters tackled the “welldeveloped” blaze for more than 20 minutes while searching for casualties inside.
Luckily the householder managed to escape out of a back window unharmed before fire crews arrived, but fears mounted for an elderly man in the flat above which was also engulfed in thick black smoke. Fortunately he was not at home at the time.
Scottish Power were also called out to isolate the building’s gas and electricity as a huge plume of smoke could be seen.
Eddie added: “My firefighters were faced with a well developed fire on a first-floor property. The flames had broken through a window by the time we arrived at 3.48pm.
“Four firefighters with breathing apparatus were sent up to the flat with high pressure hose reel jets to extinguish the fire and a thermal imaging camera to do a search of the property.
“When two firefighters went round to the back of the property they discovered the proprietor had jumped out of a first-floor window at the rear of the property.
“Once the fire was extinguished we made our way upstairs to the property above.
“The close was well smoke-logged. We had to break into the flat to check for fire spread and used a positive pressure ventilation fan to push the smoke out.
“We were told an elderly gentleman stayed there but thankfully the flat was unoccupied.”
Eddie stressed that having a working smoke alarm meant that the resident was able to get to safety and raise the alarm much sooner.
Reinforcing the fire safety message, he said: “The householder had gone into the kitchen to investigate when he smelled burning and his fire alarm went off. By the time he came back the fire had already spread.
“You can help reduce the chances of a fire in your home by booking a free home fire safety visit. Call 0800 0731 999 or text “FIRE” to 80800.”