After leaping three floors to escape a fire at his Swinton home a man has miraculously survived with only cuts to his feet.
The 20-year-old jumped from his loft on Bolton Road after the fire broke out shortly before 1pm yesterday and has emphasised the importance the smoke alarm played in saving his life by alerting him to the danger.
“If I hadn’t heard the smoke alarm I definitely wouldn’t have woken up and who knows what could have happened,” he said.
“I came downstairs to find my dad but there was so much smoke so I went back to the loft room and shut the door behind me.
“I jumped out of the window in bare feet onto the kitchen roof and was trying to smash the back bedroom window because I thought my dad was in there.
“But I couldn’t find anything to break the window with so I jumped down and when I got round to the front of the house my dad had managed to get out.”
A passing fire officer, Watch Manager Mark Coffey, saw the smoke and bravely rushed towards the house.
“I came out of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service’s Headquarters and noticed smoke coming from the house across the road and the door wide open,” said Mr Coffey.
“The man was halfway up the stairs going back up to find his son so I went in to get him and led him out of the house.
“I thought his son was still upstairs so I went back in and was shouting up to him but he’d already managed to jump out of the window.”
Firefighters from Salford and Agecroft were called to the scene and dealt with the blaze using hose reels and a fan to clear the smoke.
The front bedroom of the house was completely destroyed and the rest of the property suffered extensive smoke damage.
An ambulance was called to treat the man who suffered cuts to his feet after his daring escape from the third floor.
After firefighters believed the fire to have been started because of an electrical fault, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service have urged residents to change their block adapters to the much safer bar adapters.
For a free Home Safety Check, which could include the fitting of smoke alarms, call 0800 555 815 or click here.
Image courtesy of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service via Youtube, with thanks.
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