Man in blaze escape praises neighbour

A RELIEVED householder has told how a neighbour came to his rescue after a blaze tore through three homes in Watersheddings.

Dave Bowker was on his computer upstairs at his home in Herbert Street, unaware that a blaze had started next door and spread to the roof of his property.

He had a lucky escape after a neighbour knocked on his door to warn him that smoke was bellowing from the roof, as emergency services came to the rescue at around 10.10pm on Tuesday.

Dave said: “I’ve got a terrible sense of smell, I could walk over a burst gas main and not know the difference — so I couldn’t smell the smoke. I ran on to the street and saw what had happened, it was a real shock.

“It’s such a good job someone came to tell me, if they hadn’t done I wouldn’t have know the smoke was seeping in and who knows what could have happened.”

Fire officers are still investigating the blaze that caused the road to be cordoned off and around 20 residents to be evacuated.

The intense flames gutted the second floor and the roof space of the property, which was empty at the time, and had spread into the roof space of the terraced properties on either side.

All Annette Chadwick could do was watch the flames spread to her mother’s home of 30 years. She rushed to the street after hearing the news to find the property, which is now empty and up for sale since her mother moved out, cordoned off by fire crews.

She said: “Luckily no one was in there at the time.

“My mum had accepted an offer and the sale was being processed.

“Now repairs will have to be done and the sale could be delayed, I just hope the work doesn’t take too long.

“There were people out in the street and when I got here I could see the flames.

“I’m so pleased my mum wasn’t in there, she could have been in bed and unaware of what was going on.”