Two rescued from flat during blaze
NEIGHBOUR RUSHED TO GET A LADDER WHEN FIRE IN THE BACK
YARD BLOCKED PAIR’S ESCAPE
TWO people were rescued from the window ledge of their flat above a takeaway after a fire broke out in their back yard.
The pair, who clambered out of their window because they believed the fire was blocking their exit, climbed down safely when a neighbour propped his ladder against the building.
Fire crews were called to the property, above a branch of TJ’s, in Fullhurst Avenue, Braunstone, close to the junction with Narborough Road, at 2.30pm yesterday.
Paul Hartwell, who has a workshop two doors down, said he had just got back to the street when he spotted the big cloud of smoke.
He saw the two young adults perched on the narrow ledge outside the apartment, just above the takeaway. He said: “I rushed to get a ladder from my workshop and then I helped the two of them down from the ledge.
“The apartment wasn’t on fire but they weren’t able to get out the other way.
“I think it was some cardboard burning at the back of the takeaway.
“There was quite a lot of black smoke but the firefighters seemed to get it all under control quite quickly.”
Two crews helped tackle the blaze, parking in Fullhurst Avenue and using hoses to fight the flames.
A crowd of people gathered to watch them at work.
While the appliances took up one lane of the road opposite the KFC drive-through restaurant, traffic was able to keep moving in both directions.
A man who works nearby, who did not want to be named, said: “There was some burning going on back there not long ago but it was all just white smoke that time.
“This time I thought something else must have caught fire because there was a lot of black smoke.”
A fire service spokeswoman said: “We received a report of a fire which had started in a garden of a property in Fullhurst Avenue.
“There is no cause known at this stage.”