Portable heater sets bed alight

Firefighters were called to a property in Loughton in the early hours of the morning, after a portable heater caused a bed to catch fire.

Crews were called to Abbess Terrace, Loughton, at 2:11am this morning when a child was woken by a fire in the bed, and alerted their parents.

On arrival, firefighters confirmed the fire had been caused by a portable heater in the bedroom.

Watch Manager at Loughton Fire Station, Marc Lemon, said: “Even on lower settings, portable heaters left too close to flammable objects or materials can catch alight.

“Fortunately, fire damage was minimal and this incident had a positive outcome - nobody was injured and we were pleased to see that the property had working smoke alarms.

”As temperatures drop over winter, please be cautious when using portable heaters to heat your home. Make sure you use them on flat surfaces, at least one metre away from anything flammable, and avoid leaving them on overnight.”

Could you be an on-call firefighter?

Some of our Firefighters from Waltham Abbey are on-call Firefighters, who all live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station and attend incidents.

If you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be an on-call firefighter too.

Find out more about the role at essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call