Couple raise fire alert at terrace

Tuesday 23rd June 2009, 10:25AM BST.

A Telford couple dashed out into the street in the early hours today to raise the alarm after they spotted smoke billowing out of a nearby house.

They phoned the fire brigade and knocked on neighbours’ doors.

Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the blaze but believe it may have been an arson attack.

The alarm was raised just after 3am at a block of terraced houses in Willowfield, Woodside. No-one was in the property, although neighbours believe a woman and her teenage daughter live there.

Alexis Long, 36, said she and her husband Steven, 40, were watching television at 3am when they smelled smoke. She went outside to see smoke “billowing” out of an end-of-terrace home.

“I called the fire brigade and Steve ran down to the house and started banging on the door to try and wake them as we didn’t know if anyone was in,” she said.

“Then he started banging on the house next door to try and wake them and then other neighbours.

“We were starting to get really frightened. It was a huge relief when the police said no-one had been in the house.”

Two fire crews from Tweedale, one from Telford Central and the incident commander from Shrewsbury used water jets and breathing equipment to tackle the blaze.

The fire caused serious damage to a bedroom while other first floor rooms were blackened by smoke.

View more: Telford news, Woodside news.