Woman suffers burns after electric blanket fire
8:35am Monday 11th February 2008
A WOMAN set fire to her own clothes while trying to put out a blaze which started in a faulty electric blanket.
The 62-year-old woman was forced to tear off her own clothes after she caught fire while trying to carry bed sheets away from the blaze and into her bathroom.
Fire crews were called to the house, in Bury Road, Edenfield, at 9.30pm yesterday.
Watch Manager Ian Johnston said the woman did not have a smoke alarm at her home.
He said the blaze started in the bedroom of the property while the woman was downstairs. After smelling smoke she ran upstairs in a bid to tackle the blaze herself and ended up setting fire to herself.
Mr Johnston said: "She sustained some minor burns and was treated at Fairfield Hospital.
"If a smoke alarm had been fitted she would have been alerted to the fire when it was at a much more manageable stage."