Smoker who fell asleep lucky to be alive

Mar 11 2008 by Wendy Horton, South Wales Echo

AN ELDERLY woman and her family was lucky to be alive after she fell asleep while smoking.

The woman, who has not been named but is thought to be in her 70s, was said to be minutes away from death after her bedding and curtains caught fire at her home in Glanddu Terrace, Tiryberth.

Somehow, despite having had a recent hip replacement, the woman managed to scramble out of the smoke-filled room.

She then fled to safety along with her daughter and young grandson before fighters arrived in the early hours of last Thursday.

Today the OAP was branded a lucky woman by station manager Phil Pinches at Cefn Fforest Fire Station, whose crews fought the fire. He urged people not to smoke in bed.

He said: “This woman must be the luckiest person I know of and must have used eight of her nine lives.

“She had only just had a hip replacement but managed to crawl out of bed and she, her daughter and her 10-year-old son got out of the house by the time we arrived.

“She could have only been minutes away from being overcome by the thick smoke which had filled the room.”

Officer Pinches said the fire service dislikes people smoking in bed but said if people insisted on smoking they should get a smoke alarm fitted in the bedroom itself.