Cigarette causes flat fire

Firefighters were called to a flat fire in Parkeston in the early hours of the morning, after a cigarette caused bedding to catch alight.

Crews were called to a flat in Tyler Street, Parkeston, at 3:31am.

On arrival, firefighters confirmed the fire was in the bedroom, in a flat, on the first floor of the building and the remainder of the flat was smoke-logged.

Crews used oxygen to successfully revive a cat, who was unconscious due to smoke inhalation.

Firefighters extinguished the fire by 4:19am, and then worked to clear the property of smoke.

Watch Manager, Gary Clarke, said “Thankfully, in this incident, the smoke alarm sounded and woke the resident, who colled 999.

“Smoke alarms are often the first sign of a fire at home. Without a working smoke alarm, we expect this would have been a very different outcome.”

Smoking

If you're a smoker or you have a smoker living in your house, make sure you follow our advice to stay safe at home.

• Make sure your cigarettes are fully extinguished.
• Take extra care when you’re tired; if you're taking any kind of drugs or have been drinking alcohol. It’s very easy to fall asleep while your cigarette is still burning.
• Never smoke in bed - if you need to lie down, don’t light up. You could doze off and set your bed on fire.
• Never leave lit cigarettes unattended - they can easily overbalance as they burn down.
• Use a proper, heavy ashtray that can’t tip over easily and is made of a material that won’t burn. 
• Tap your ash into an ashtray, never a wastebasket containing other rubbish – and don’t let the ash or cigarette ends build up in the ashtray.
• Use child safe matches and cigarette lighters and keep them safely out of the reach of children
• Fit and maintain a smoke alarm - a working smoke alarm can buy you valuable time to get out, stay out and call 999.

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Some of the firefighters from Dovercourt and Clacton are on-call firefighters who live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station.

If you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be paid to protect your community as an on-call firefighter.

Find out more at join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call