All residential properties must be fitted
with a smoke detector, personal injury solicitors Bolton have warned, echoing
the comments of an unidentified man who escaped from his burning house after
being alerted by a smoke alarm.
The 20-year-old leapt from his loft
bedroom, jumping three floors to safety, after the blaze broke out on November
14th just before 1pm.
He was sleeping in the Bolton Road property
in Swinton when the alarm woke him up. He revealed that he went downstairs to
find his dad, but was unable to do so, so went back to his loft room and closed
the door.
He then jumped on to the kitchen roof and
attempted to break the window of the back bedroom, where he thought his father
was. He was unable to do so, but when he reached the front of his house he saw
his dad had successfully escaped.
Watch Manager Mark Coffey - a fire officer
- happened to be passing by the house when it was on fire. He saw the father
reentering the smoke-filled house to look for his son, and took him out of the
house.
While both occupants survived this fire
with no significant injuries, personal injury solicitors Preston know the consequences could have easily been far
worse.
The fire service used a fan and hose reels
to clear the smoke and extinguish the fire. The emergency services, which came
from Agecroft and Salford, had to use breathing apparatus.
Smoke detectors are vital in every
building, and in residences, they can easily spell the difference between life
and death. The 20-year-old in the above case said it is impossible to know what
would have happened if the smoke detector had not woken him up, but it is very possible
that the consequences of the house fire could have been fatal.
Fires are devastating even when they do not
lead to injury - the Bolton Road residence will have undoubtedly experienced a
lot of damage and many sentimental and priceless belongings could have been
lost in the blaze.
