Man rescued from smoke-filled flat

A block of flats had to be evacuated last night while firefighters dragged a man from his smoke-filled apartment.

The man, in his forties, had left some food cooking in the oven and fallen asleep.

The smoke alarm in the flat had been removed after it was damaged in a water leak and the man had not been woken by the smoke.
Fortunately a neighbour saw smoke billowing out of the flat and called the fire service at about 6.40pm.

Two fire engines from Maidenhead turned up at the flats in Blenheim Road on the Bomber Estate in Pinkneys Green.
Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus had to barge their way into the apartment to wake the man and rescue him from the smoke.

The oven was badly damaged and the flat was smoke logged.
An ambulance crew were on hand but the man escaped without injury.

Green watch manager Chris Havers said: "He was rather shaken. It wouldn't have been good for him to breathe in that smoke for much longer."