DROITWICH Fire Station Watch Commander Andrew Birch has urged home-owners to check their smoke detector alarms weekly and change the battery BEFORE it starts bleeping.

His comments come in the aftermath of a kitchen fire which engulfed a top floor flat at Highfield Close in Droitwich in dense white smoke and fumes. Thanks to a working smoke alarm, 61-year-old lecturer John Nash was able to quickly evacuate the flat and get neighbours to call the fire brigade before the fire had a chance to take hold.

Mr Nash said: “It all happened in minutes. I was half way through sorting some things to throw away. I got hungry, put soup on and turned on the hob. I thought the soup would take a while to heat so I popped to the toilet.

“But I had turned on the wrong hob by mistake and plastic items that I had left on the stove started to melt.  All the alarms went off and the place was covered in dense white smoke.”

Fire crews from Droitwich were quickly on the scene and were able to put out the fire using breathing apparatus, before ventilating the flat.  Mr Nash was checked for smoke inhalation but discharged by the ambulance crew at the scene.

Mr Nash said: “It was a big drama about nothing, but it could have been a lot worse without a fire alarm.  You can imagine if it was someone who was elderly and on their own.   “The fire service was absolutely excellent.  I was really impressed with them.”

Droitwich Fire chiefs say the early warning from smoke alarms can make a big difference to the outcome when a fire breaks out, but residents need to get into the habit of checking their alarms.

Commander Birch said: “The advice is to check a smoke alarm weekly by pressing the test button, and replace the battery once a year.

“People are getting the message about smoke detectors and more people have them than not, but they are not as good at checking them, and they probably wait until the battery beeps before replacing it.

Luckily Mr Nash said his fire alarms are tested regularly and all were in working order.