Dad, 71, and son escape inferno

7:25pm Sunday 2nd March 2008

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A PENSIONER and his son narrowly escaped being killed in a fire that has wrecked their home.

Paul Kennedy, 35, described how he thought he and his father "were both going to die" when they were almost trapped in a smoke-filled kitchen.

Fire broke out in their terrace house in St Michael's Street in the Bastwell area of Blackburn shortly before 1am this morning.

Mr Kennedy, who is a full-time carer for this arthritic father Francis, 71, said: "I was in my bedroom listening to the radio when I heard dad, who was in the living room, shouting my name over and over.

"I went downstairs and the room was full of smoke, I could barely see two feet in front of me because it was so thick.

"My dad cannot walk very well, but he'd managed to get into the kitchen, but both the front and back doors were locked, and my keys were upstairs.

"I ran up to get them and came back down, but dad had stumbled and fallen over and I dropped the keys in the kitchen, and couldn't find them.

"It was then that I just thought, this is it, we're going to die', and I remember thinking what a bloody stupid way to have to go.

"But then I managed to find another key to the back door, and got us both out into the back yard.

"My mobile phone was upstairs, and the smoke was too thick to go back in, and there were flames coming from the living room window which had broken from the heat.

"So I ran to the phone boxes in Whalley New Road to call the fire brigade and ambulance, and they came about five or 10 minutes later."

Both Mr Kennedy and his father, a retired factory worker who was widowed in 2006, were taken by ambulance to Royal Blackburn Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

"They've kept dad in because of his age, and he did inhale a lot of smoke," said Mr Kennedy, the youngest of three brothers.

"I think he had been smoking a cigarette, and he dropped it. He thought he had put it out but he hadn't and the carpet or furniture must have caught fire."

Blackburn firefighters spent around two hours putting out the flames, which left 80 per cent of the ground floor severely damaged.

Blackburn crew manager Michael Angland said: "The fire in still under investigation but it's highly likely a cigarette caused it.

"Because the son had to run to the phone box, by the time we arrived the fire was pretty serious."

Mr Kennedy said that although it was upsetting that the house, which has been in the family for decades, has been gutted, he is grateful that he and his father escaped alive.

He said: "What's scary to think about is how much of a miracle it is we both got out okay, as dad has bad arthritis in his legs and really can't move much. I'm just glad we're both still alive."

Mr Kennedy is now looking for a place for him, his father and brother Mark, 42, who was out at the time of the fire, to stay. Eldest son Don lives in Clitheroe.