Thurcroft: Fire victims remain in hospital

Firefighters from Maltby, Aston and Rotherham were called to the house on Peter Street shortly before 3am on Monday, 9th December)

There, they discovered a man and woman, both in their 50s, unconcious.

Firefighter administered first aid and gave both people oxygen before they were taken to hospital.

The cause of the fire was confirmed as a chip pan that caught light in the kitchen.

The alarm was raised by the couple’s next-door neighbour Julie Swartz, who had only moved into her property three days earlier.

“My husband was working a late shift and came home at 2.30am and we were in bed when we heard a loud bang and then a muffled alarm sound,” she said.

“We then smelt smoke and so went downstairs but there was nothing wrong in our house.

“Then we went outside and smelled the smoke more strongly from next door and so we called 999.”

“My husband went round the back to see if he could get in or see what the situation was and I hammered on the front door to wake the owners.”

Fortunately the emergency services were there very quickly and were able to take control of the situation.”

“You hear about these things on the news but you never expect it to happen to you.”

Several neighbours were also out on the streets, among them Stephanie Moxon.

“I was woken up by the flashing lights of the fire engines,” she said.

“I looked out of the window and saw the fire engines and the ambulances, so I went outside to see what was happening.”

“I saw the two bodies on the ground and feared they were dead, but then they carried them into the ambulance .”

“I couldn’t believe it really, this street has become very quiet in the last few years and you don’t expect this sort of thing.”

“I think we were lucky that a couple of the adjoining houses are empty or the fire could have spread and been even worse.”