Firefighters from Cudworth and Barnsley attended an incident last night (31 January 2019) at a Bungalow in Staincross.

The fire was reported at 8:28pm and on arrival crews found the fire in the front bedroom of the property.

The two occupants were thankfully out of the bungalow when firefighters arrived and were treated for smoke inhalation in hospital. Two breathing apparatus teams went into the property to extinguish the fire which had consumed the bedroom. Other rooms in the property had also been affected by smoke and heat.

Following an investigation into the cause of the fire, it was established that it had started accidentally as a result of an overloaded socket. Three extension leads had been plugged into one mains socket with multiple electrical items then plugged into the extension leads.

Our three top tips to prevent electrical fires are:

• Don’t leave appliances on, and devices charging, at night and when you’re out of the house – to eliminate the risk of these malfunctioning and catching fire.
• Buy electrical equipment which is genuine and from trusted sources – ‘knock off’ phone chargers and batteries are prone to setting on fire.
• Don’t overload plug sockets – exceeding the advised current rating (13 amps) can cause them to overheat and catch fire.