Woman thanks firefighters and 999 call handler

A woman was rescued from an upstairs window following a fire at her house in Middleton

A woman has thanked firefighters and a 999 call handler after she was rescued from an upstairs window following a fire at her house in Middleton this morning (Monday, November 12)

Mother of one, 34-year-old Claire Lowe said: “I was absolutely terrified but the 999 lady was amazing – really brilliant. She was calm so it kept me calm and she told me the fire engines were on their way.”

Three fire engines from Blackley and Chadderton were called to her house on Barrowfields at 6.25am.

Control Operator Karen Flanagan said: “The minute I answered the 999 call I could tell Claire was upset and distressed and she was talking about her house being full of smoke with smoke on the landing.

“She told me she’d got up early to put a wash on and that she’d gone back to bed - but she kept apologising and I just told her not to say sorry because that’s what Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) is here for.

“It was a team effort really because while I was able to talk to Claire and tell her to stay close to the window with the door closed, my colleagues were able to talk to the fire crews to tell them what had happened and where exactly in the house she was. 

“She was listening which made my job easy, even though she was understandably distressed and at one stage was coughing quite badly – but I was able to tell her to put a duvet against the door and reassure her that fire engines were on their way.”

The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.

Claire said: “My boyfriend was working away and thankfully my little boy was at his dad’s house – and I’d got up at about 5.15am and put a 90 degree white wash on then went back up to bed.

“I woke up because my dogs Patch and Baby were barking and I thought they were just playing on the landing, but they wouldn’t stop so I opened the door and it was thick with smoke.

“I was really scared I got the dogs in the bedroom with me and rang 999 – Karen was brilliant and the firefighters were amazing too.”

Crews arrived within minutes, all the while Karen was talking to Claire keeping her calm.

Watch Manager Val Hussain said: “When we arrived we saw the lady hanging out of the upstairs bedroom window so we shouted up to her telling her to keep calm, she was very distressed but already relatively calm because Karen had kept her talking while we were on our way.

“We sent a couple of crews in wearing breathing apparatus - one to fight the fire which involved the washing machine in the kitchen and one crew to go straight upstairs to rescue the lady and her dogs.

“The house was heavily smoke-logged so we made the decision to bring her down a ladder from the upstairs bedroom and we carried the dogs out of the front door.

“But Claire had done a great job because she had kept all her doors in the house shut so thankfully the fire did not spread through the house.”

Fire crews used a fan to disperse the smoke before carrying out a Home Safety Check and fitting two smoke alarms in the house.

Claire said: “I climbed down the ladder and the firefighters were helping me everyone from GMFRS was brilliant and I just want to thank them, they even fitted me a couple of smoke alarms.

“If it wasn’t for Patch – I wouldn’t have known there was a fire - everyone should have a smoke alarm.”