Bathroom shower blamed for fire at Wigan family home

Fire chiefs say smoke alarms made a difference between a relatively minor incident and a far more serious one as they enabled a mother and her two children to get away safely before the flames took hold.

She had been putting the youngsters to bed at their terraced house on Warrington Road, Worsley Mesnes, at 8.25pm on the evening of Tuesday February 7 when the alarm went off.

She ran into the bathroom to find the shower unit on fire and the room fast filling up with fumes, so she immediately took the children out of the house and ran 999.

A fire crew from Wigan was quickly on the scene and the blaze was contained to the unit and plaster boards near the ceiling although there was a degree of smoke logging in the rest of the house.

"The mum could have tucked her children in and gone back downstairs and the fire taken much more serious hold before she was alerted.

"As it was, everyone got out safely and the damage was relatively minor.

"The cause of the fire has not yet been fully determined. The shower was certainly the origin of the fire, but we have yet to establish whether it was the cause. The lady said there had never been any problems with it before.

"Thankfully there wasn't a shower curtain but a glass panel instead so that helped to prevent the flames from spreading too."

Mr Gleaves said that firefighters would be carrying out a campaign in the street to make sure that neighbouring houses are fitted with smoke alarms - free ones will be supplied if they aren't - and ensuring that everyone fully appreciates the benefit of these devices.

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