Blazing shed sets homes alight

A 15-year-old girl from one of the  Fitzwilliam Road properties called 999 after hearing the family’s smoke alarm and spotting flames at about 3.30am.

A shed and both semi-detached houses were on fire when fire crews arrived.

Seven people were led to safety in total—the teenager who raised the alarm, her ten-year-old brother and grandmother from one house, and a mum and her three children from the other.

All were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Watch manager Chris Clegg, from Rotherham station, said: “Had it not been for the smoke alarms which SYFR had fitted, this fire could have had terrible consequences.

“We could have been dealing with two much bigger house fires if the young girl hadn’t woken when she did, and called 999.”

The blaze caused damage to external fittings and caused smoke logging inside the houses.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation on Monday morning.