Four-year-old alerts family to late-night house fire (From News Shopper)

Four-year-old alerts family to late-night Dartford house fire

2:31pm Wednesday 13th June 2012 in Dartford & Swanley news By Jim Palmer

A CHILD was woken by the smell of smoke after a bathroom extractor fan caught alight.

The four-year-old saw flames coming from the bathroom unit around midnight last night and called her dad who smothered the flames using towels before getting his family out of the house, in Manor Way, Dartford, and calling the fire brigade.

Crews from Dartford station arrived four minutes later and used a fan to clear the smoke before fitting smoke alarms.

The bathroom fan was destroyed but there was only light smoke damage.

Watch manager Dave Read said: “Fortunately, this was a fairly minor incident, but the outcome could have been far more serious had the young child not woken when she did as there were no working smoke alarms in the property.”

Mr Read stressed the importance of having smoke alarms and urged people not to try to tackle fires in their homes but to get out and call the fire service. For fire safety advice call 0800 923 7000 or visit www.kent.fire-uk.org.