A COUPLE who escaped their smoke-filled flat after leaving a candle burning overnight are warning others not to make the same mistake.

Ian and Linda Pollock woke early on Thursday morning to find a fire in their lounge and a cloud of thick black smoke.

They do not know how long the fire had been burning because the smoke alarm in the lounge had been disabled as the battery needed replacing and the one in their bedroom was also without a battery.

Thankfully, Mrs Pollock woke by chance and spotted the fire.

Now the Pollocks, both health care assistants, of Wimborne Road, Moordown, have put their weight behind a national smoke alarm campaign which was launched at the beginning of the month.

Entitled Push the Button Not Your Luck, the campaign aims to warn people of the importance of having a smoke alarm in working order.

Mr Pollock, 34, said: "I just hadn't got around to getting a battery for it. If this story stops one person from being as stupid as we were then it has to be a good thing."

Mrs Pollock, 36, added: "We are both counting our lucky stars that we are still alive."

The couple were both taken to hospital after inhaling smoke and Mr Pollock received minor burns when he attempted to go back into the flat to fight the fire.

Mr Pollock said: "It was only afterwards I realised how stupid I had been when a footstep away from the source of the fire was a full can of lighter gas. If that had blown up I would have been killed."

Sub-officer Dave Arundel of Redhill Park station said: "We would say to people before they go to bed at night, close the doors to the lounge and kitchen so that if there is a fire in there it will be contained within that room and they will be able to get out of the house safely.

"But that wasn't the case here - the doors in the lounge were wedged open.

"The ironic thing was that when I went into the flat to investigate the cause of the fire I went into the lounge and there on the window sill, next to the candle, was a smoke alarm without the battery in it.

"For the sake of a bit of time and £2 they would have known about the fire earlier, and they would not have got the injuries they sustained. If Mrs Pollock hadn't have woken up with a sixth sense then they would have died."

For more information about fire safety log on to www. dorsetfire.co.uk or www. community-fire-safety.org.uk

First published: Sept 6