Woman taken to hospital after electric blanket sparks fire

The woman, in her 80s, went to Mirfield Fire Station after her home fire alarm went off.

Firefighters attended her home on Huddersfield Road at 12.30pm today (Wednesday) and found the electric blanket smouldering and the mattress had set alight.
Firefighter Richard Gordon said: “The lady lived near to the station so came in as her alarms were going off and she didn’t know whey.

“When we got there we found the electric blanket and mattress smouldering and by the time we’d got it outside it had gone up [in flames] quite well. It was very lucky that she’d had working smoke alarms.

“We would advise people to have their electric blankets checked regularly by an electrician, and check their smoke alarms regularly.”

The woman was taken to Dewsbury and District Hospital for precautionary treatment for smoke inhalation.