Bedroom blaze

FIREMEN at the scene of this morning’s fire in Coppice

TWO young girls and their father were taken to hospital following a bedroom fire at a terrace house in Gainsborough Avenue, Coppice, this morning.

The girls, aged 16 and 10, and their 48-year-old father were treated at the Royal Oldham Hospital after inhaling smoke.

Another seven-year-old girl and a woman (47) were checked in hospital as a precaution.

Fire investigation teams are working to establish the cause of the blaze, which started at 7am.

Neighbour Samina Asghar said: “I was getting up for work when I heard the fire alarm going off, then I started to smell smoke. It happened very quickly after that.”

Two years ago, firefighters targeted Gainsborough Avenue with fire prevention advice after it was named as a hotspot for kitchen fires.

Emergency crews had responded to 24 cooking-related fires in the two years up to April, 2012, resulting in six people needing hospital treatment.