Heater is blamed for Telford house blaze
A fire which ripped through a house in Telford was caused by an electric heater, fire investigators said today.
A fire which ripped through a house in Telford was caused by an electric heater, fire investigators said today.
A family of five – including a six-week-old baby boy – managed to escape from the semi-detached house in Teal Close, near Brookside, yesterday. They remained in hospital this morning.
The family – named locally as Rebecca Coffey, her partner Ian, and children, Chloe, six, Charlie, five, and baby Finley – are all in a stable condition.
Dave Bishton, a fire investigation officer with Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "I believe that the cause of the fire is as a result of a portable halogen heater which was left near to ignitable items."
The fire tore through the ground floor where the woman's partner, who had been asleep downstairs, made a desperate bid to get upstairs to his family before being forced to escape through a kitchen window.
Eyewitnesses said they saw the young mother lower her children out of the window. She then jumped herself, breaking her leg.
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Family flees Telford house blaze