Family of six flee blaze (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Family of six flee blaze

3:47pm Wednesday 7th February 2007 in Swindon By Hayley Court

A family of six have been left homeless after fire tore through their home in the Pinehurst area of Swindon this morning.

Appliances from Stratton and Swindon rushed to the home in Magnolia Court at 11.17am where a candle in the living room had sparked the blaze.

The family managed to escape uninjured.

The fire was out in just fifteen minutes but the house was so badly smoke logged and fire damaged that the family will have t be re-housed.

Fire crews spent the rest of the morning knocking on neighbouring homes to make sure smoke detectors were in working order after discovering that the batteries had been taken out of the alarm inside the house.

A spokesperson for Wilthsire Fire Brigade said: "Smoke alarms are very importantant in detecting the early stages of fire and homeonwners should also ensure they have alarms and they are in proper working order."