A WOMAN and her dog had to be rescued from a house in Enniskillen after a fire broke out in the sitting room.
The Fire Service was alerted to the blaze around 2am by the terrified woman who was trapped in an upstairs bedroom of a house at Erne Drive.
Fire crews from Enniskillen, Lisnaskea and Irvinestown were deployed to the incident and a small fire was identified in the living room.
The woman was then removed to hospital by ambulance having suffered smoke inhalation.
Speaking to the Newsletter, Fire Service group commander William Johnston said control room staff continued providing safety advice and reassurance to the woman until the first firefighters arrived on the scene and were able to enter the smoke-filled house.
“The lady was trapped upstairs in her bedroom due to the smoke-logging of the premises. This may have been a small, smouldering fire, but it is the actual smoke that kills most people.
“On arrival, the fire crews gained access to the premises using breathing apparatus and hose reel jets and dealt with a small fire in a ground floor living room area.
“There was a small fire identified in the living room and the house was fully smoke-logged.
“It was determined that the fire was caused by smoking materials, and we would advise that all cigarettes and smoking materials are fully extinguished and removed outside to an appropriate receptacle.”
The fire chief said there were “two key elements” that contributed to the successful resolution of the incident.
“One was that the lady had a working smoke alarm, so she was alerted very early that there was a fire, and also that the internal doors of the property were closed so this helped restrict the spread of fire and the volume of smoke around the property.”
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