Thame couple rescued after sleeping through smoke alarm

A THAME couple had a lucky escape on Saturday when fire officers found them fast asleep in bed as their smoke alarm failed to alert to them to the fact that their kitchen was on fire.
A Thame fire crew was called to the flat behind the Cornmarket, by a hairdresser who saw smoke billowing from the window and heard the alarm going off, as she arrived for work at around 8am on Saturday (26/04).
Station Officer, Andy Ford said: “Failing to rouse the occupants, we kicked the door in and ran up the stairs and found an oven, containing the remains of oven chips, on fire and a couple motionless in the bedroom.
“One of them was so motionless that we took his pulse.
“It would appear that they had put the chips in the oven early in the morning and had returned to bed having had a late night, only to fall fast asleep again.
“They were extremely surprised to be woken up by four firemen crashing around their flat!
“Hopefully, this couple have learned a very valuable lesson about the risks of attempting to cook after a night out.
“Cooking is one of the biggest causes of fire in the home.

“It was very fortunate for them that this didn’t happen during the night or even on a Sunday morning when the smoke might not have been spotted by anyone.”

Fortunately, the fire was quickly dealt with and no one was injured.