A Sheffield woman’s smoke alarm failed to alert her to a kitchen fire on Tuesday evening – because the batteries had been taken out.

The fire started after the cooker was left on at the property on Ulley Road in Intake.

Fortunately, the woman discovered the smoke when she returned to the kitchen from her living room, and dialled 999.

Crew Manager Wayne Robinson from Mansfield Road station said: “The blaze was confined to the cooker and the lady was able to get herself and her dog outside to safety.

“We would urge people to regularly check the batteries in their smoke alarms and never remove them.”

In a separate incident on Tuesday evening Rotherham firefighters were called to a house in the town centre after a chip pan fire broke out.

The occupant, a woman in her 20’s, managed to extinguish the blaze by placing a damp tea towel over the pan.