ARCHIVED - Alicante firefighters save sleeping woman after flat fire breaks out
The blaze started on the balcony of a flat in Alicante on the Costa Blanca during the early hours.
A sleeping woman had a lucky escape after a fire broke out on the balcony of her top floor flat in Alicante, thankfully being woken up and rescued uninjured before the blaze spread.
According to the Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue Service of Alicante (SPEIS), a neighbour alerted the 112 emergency services to a blaze at an apartment in Calle Carlos Arniches at 5.17am this morning (Wednesday, July 28), reporting smoke coming from the top floor of the building.
When a crew of 11 firefighters arrived at the scene, equipped with two Heavy Urban Pumps and a ladder vehicle, supported by Alicante Local Police, they were split into two teams, one of which accessed the inside of the building to see if there was any response from the property.
When there wasn't, they forced entry and found a woman sleeping, oblivious to the danger unfolding around her. She was rescued unhurt while the second team focused on extinguishing the flames which were doused by 6.20am.
The firefighters' "quick response" has been credited with saving the life of the occupant and preventing the fire from spreading further.
To reduce the risk of serious injury or death in a fire, SPEIS recommends installing smoke detectors in all homes to alert people when a fire breaks out, particularly at night when they can be "more deadly" as occupants are asleep.
IMAGE: SPEIS (Archive)