Plastic Christmas tree sparks blaze in Burnley (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Plastic Christmas tree sparks blaze in Burnley

9:58am Wednesday 2nd January 2013 in News By Chris Adams

NEIGHBOURS had to free a woman from her Burnley home after a plastic Christmas tree went up in flames.

Firefighters were called to a terraced house in Olympia Street at around 1am on New Year’s Day.

When they arrived, the woman was outside the house unconscious in the street, being looked after by neighbours.

Speaking from the home yesterday, the woman’s father, who did not want to be named, said his daughter’s pet dog had knocked the tree into a gas fire while she was asleep.

He was repairing a shattered window that the neighbours smashed in their bid to get into the house and rescue the woman.

Watch manager at Burnley fire station, Neil Marks, said: “Two pumps attended and immediately provided oxygen and first aid to the woman.

“The fire had started in a ground floor lounge area after a plastic Christmas tree fell against a gas fire and the house had become heavily smoke-logged.

“The woman had been in the house at the time and the neighbours heard her banging on the front door as she couldn’t get out, so they broke down the door.”

Firefighters used two breathing apparatus and a hose reel to tackle the fire, which destroyed the tree and caused heavy smoke damage.

The woman was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital, where she was treated for the effects of smoke inhalation and is now recovering at home.

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