Firefighters have praised a quick-thinking mother in London’s East End who made sure her family escaped from a fire in their home during the night.
Sabira Ahmed and her children got to safety as the fire broke out in their flat in Shadwell.
They were woken at 2.15am today when their smoke-detector sounded.
“She did everything right,” Whitechapel fire-station’s watch manger Chris Jones said. “She had a working smoke alarm that alerted her to the fire—then she closed the kitchen door and took her family to an area of the flat unaffected by smoke after calling the Brigade.”
The blaze at the block of flats in Swedenborg Gardens was out by the time fire crews arrived at 2.20am. The incident was over within 15 minutes.
“It shows the importance of having a working smoke alarm,” watch manger Jones added. “They can buy you vital time to escape in the event of a fire—they should be tested regularly.”
Crews from three fire-stations at Whitechapel, Bethnal Green and Dowgate in the City were called out to tackle the blaze. Shadwell’s own fire-station closed last month for rebuilding work.
The fire in the kitchen is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in the washing machine.
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