Hove man rescued from flat fire at Brunswick Place

Firefighters rescued a man from his flat in Brunswick Place in Hove after a fire broke out in the early hours of this morning.

The middle-aged man was found to be lying unresponsive but conscious in his third floor flat by firefighters, who were called at 1.43am and told a man was trapped inside the building.

The fire is believed to have started accidentally as a result of cooking being left unattended on the hob.

The rescued man was taken to hospital, but nobody else in the property was injured.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue services has reminded residents of the dangers of leaving cooking unattended and urged people to evacuate their property as soon as they hear a fire alarm.

Crew Manager Andy Cornford said: “He was unresponsive but conscious and we assisted him to a safe area on the landing, as the flat was severely smoke-logged. We then assisted him to walk down the stairs to waiting ambulance crews where he was treated for breathing in smoke.

“The cause of the fire was accidental due to cooking being left unattended on the hob. Thankfully, the man had a lucky escape as there was a hard wired fire detection system for the property which activated giving warning to people in the property.

“No-one else was injured but the whole property had to be evacuated. When we got there some residents were still in their rooms and we would urge people not to ignore any fire alarm and to evacuate immediately for their own safety.

“Some of the residents were even making attempts to try and rescue the man. We would urge people not to do this as you can put yourself and others in danger. Our advice would be ‘get out, stay out and call the fire service out’.

“We would like to remind people about the dangers of cooking late at night and to always keep a watchful eye on your food while cooking. Never leave any cooking unattended because you could not only be putting your lives in danger but others as well. This type of call out is surprisingly common and many are still unaware of how dangerous it is to leave cooking unattended.”

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on November 23, 2011. Filed under Featured,Hove. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry