Pensioner rescued from inferno at Peterborough bungalow

A man has described seeing flames shooting through the roof of a bungalow moments before a pensioner was rescued from her burning house.
Parnwell house with burnt out roof after house fire. EMN-181127-151135009Parnwell house with burnt out roof after house fire. EMN-181127-151135009
Parnwell house with burnt out roof after house fire. EMN-181127-151135009

Richard Salmon (76) of Keys Park, Parnwell, was woken at 12.30am on Monday by the blaze in neighbouring Finchfield - and to his horror realised the bungalow opposite was covered in flames.

Fire crews had to smash through the door of the property, and rescued the pensioner from the burning building, and she was taken to hospital. Her condition is not known.

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A large hole in the roof caused by the large fire is still visible.

Mr Salmon said: “I heard noises in the road, which is not unusual as we have a bit of anti-social behaviour round here.

“It happened again a few minutes later, and I looked out of the window, and could see flames - but it looked like the fire was in the back garden.

“But the flames were getting higher and higher, and eventually they were reaching the top of the roof.

“It was really quite fierce.

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“I then realised it was in the house itself - and I called 999 for the fire service.

“We had a window open, and the smoke was coming in - it had an acrid smell.

“The fire brigade were here very quickly - within a couple of minutes, along with police and ambulance.

“The house had exploded into flames.

“I woke my wife up, and she said the person who lived there was an old woman, who lived alone.

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“It was very worrying, because you don’t know what is in the house - people have things like gas heaters.

“We haven’t heard how the woman is - we really hope she is OK.”

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue said: “Firefighters arrived to find a well-developed fire in a bungalow with smoke spreading to adjacent properties. Wearing breathing apparatus they extinguished the fire using hose reels and a jet.

“One female casualty was rescued from the property and taken to hospital by ambulance.

“The crews returned to their stations by 3.15am.”

The East of England Ambulance service confirmed they had taken the woman to Peterborough City Hospital for treatment.

An investigation revealed the blaze had started accidentally.