Some unattended cooking could have spelt disaster for an elderly woman in north Kingston this week, after a poorly maintained fire alarm left her unaware her food was burning.
Firefighters were called to the house in Latchmere Road, Kingston, at 10.45pm on Monday, February 22 after heavy smoke built up after the cooking was accidentally left to burn in the kitchen.
Although the fire alarm was not broken, a built up of dust on it meant it did not immediately register the smoke.
A fire service spokesman said: “The owner had left some cooking unattended and because their smoke alarm was not working it took them a lot longer to realise the cooking was on fire. No one was hurt but it could have been a great deal worse.”
The fire brigade said the incident was a wake up call to people to regularly check their fire alarms were in good working order.
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