House fire

Crews extinguished a fire at a house in Colchester.

Firefighters were called to a semi-detached house in St Andrews Avenue today at 6.04pm and found a fire in a first floor bedroom.

The occupants, a couple with a young child, were safely out of the property when crews arrived and have been praised for their actions.

Station Manager Danny Partridge said: "Crews, including two firefighters who recently completed their training, were faced with a severe fire in the bedroom.

"They did a really good job in quickly getting it under control and clearing the smoke.

"Thankfully the occupants did exactly the right thing when they found the fire; they closed the bedroom door, got out, stayed out and called 999.

"Because they shut the door, the fire damage was restricted to the bedroom and it minimised the smoke damage to the rest of the first floor."

Although the property had smoke alarms, they were not sounding, so the incident acts as a reminder to check your smoke alarms are working. 

If you or someone you know doesn't have working smoke alarms, we can provide and fit smoke alarms FREE of charge. To book a home safety visit, call 0300 303 0088 or book online at www.essex-fire.gov.uk/book

The fire was fully extinguished by 7.17pm. An investigation will be carried out to establish the cause.

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Firefighters from Brightlingsea Fire Station who attended this incident are on-call firefighters. They each live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station and are paid to protect their community.

If you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be an on-call firefighter too and join more than 500 firefighters who are paid to protect their local community.

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