Firefighters praise neighbour for quick actions during kitchen fire

Firefighters would like to praise a neighbour who acted quickly when noticing a kitchen fire in Colchester earlier today. 

Crews were called to Propelair Way, Colchester at 1:12pm to reports of a flat fire. 

A man had spotted smoke coming from his neighbour’s flat and acted quickly to dial 999 and then help his neighbour and her baby safely escape the flat. 

On arrival, crews reported the flat was heavily smoke logged and found a pan on fire in the kitchen. 

Crews worked quickly to extinguish the fire before it could spread throughout the kitchen. 

Crew Manager Sunil Galvin from Colchester Fire Station said: “Quick action from the woman’s neighbour meant she was able to escape her flat with her baby after a pan had overheated and caught fire while she was cooking. 

“If you ever hear smoke alarms going off or see smoke coming from a house, please dial 999 immediately so crews can get to the fire as fast as we can. You could help to save lives.

"Cooking with oil can overheat easily so our best advice is to if possible, turn the heat source off, get out of the house, close all doors behind you and call 999.”