Elderly woman rescued as flats go up in flames
Published: September 29, 2006
A FIRE which engulfed a block of flats may have been started by children.
Two ground floor flats were damaged by the blaze which broke out just before midnight on Friday last week (September 22) in Larch Crescent, Southall.
About 20 firefighters attended.
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An elderly woman living on the first floor was rescued by crews wearing breathing apparatus and taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
A man who lives opposite the pensioner described what happened.
He said: “It was really scary.
“I have a four-year-old boy so I was scared for our safety.
“There was a lot of smoke, the whole hallway was filled with it. We got out just in time.
“I thought the whole flat would go up in flames. It was a huge fire.
“I was quite scared for the old woman.
“She stayed in her flat for ten or 15 minutes until she was brought out.
“I was worried for her.”
Tony Cooley, 37, who works for council contractors TCM responsible for cleaning up the fire damage, said the blaze must have been massive.
“It started by the back door in a pile of furniture which stacked up there,” he said.
“Then it burned straight through into the flat.
“I spoke to two women who were trying to salvage stuff from the flat on Monday and they told me they thought it could have been kids who started it.
“You can see how big and hot it was because the garbage chute high up on the wall is completely melted. It must have been fierce.”
Police are now investigating whether the fire was started deliberately.
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