Pets saved from blaze

From the archive, first published Friday 9th Mar 2007.

CHINCHILLAS and cats had to be rescued from a house after a blaze started in the kitchen.

Firefighters rescued three chinchillas and seven cats after the fire began in the house in Leighton Avenue, Leigh.

Leading Firefighter Mark Nickol said: "The fire started in the lady's kitchen and she was very lucky that it didn't spread any further than it did as it was confined by the heavy kitchen work-top which was above the seat of the fire.

"We took the hutches for the chinchillas out straight away as they were hindering us in our efforts to get in and fight the fire.

"It was only after the blaze was out she told us about the cats, we ventilated the property and all of the cats were still indoors and seemed fine.

The woman and her pets had a lucky escape because her smoke alarms did not sound because they were out of batteries and she had not replaced them.

Mr Nickol said: "It shows how important it is to test your smoke alarms and make sure that they never run out of batteries."

The fire, which started at about 8.52am on Friday, took about 30 minutes to fully extinguish.

Crews used four sets of breathing apparatus and one hose reel to fight the fire and rescue the pets.