'Working smoke alarms saved my family's lives'

A father-of-two says the lives of his family were saved by working smoke alarms when fire broke out in their home.

The fire took hold in Jamie Warden's home in the Castle Hill area of Ipswich in the early hours of the morning on 22 January.

The 38-year-old, his wife and two children were fortunately able to get out of the house after the smoke alarms woke them up, but the building suffered significant damage.

He has urged everyone to have working smoke alarms - a message echoed by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service.

Warden said he was woken up at 03:00 GMT to the sound of the alarms.

"I just thought one of them was a bit faulty so I went and investigated down the stairs," he explained to BBC Radio Suffolk's Wayne Bavin.

"That's when I started to notice the smoke coming out of a couple of the doors downstairs."

The rest of his family had also woken up and they were able to get outside to safety.

However their two kittens were still inside and Warden attempted to go back in to rescue them.

"I could hear one of them, it was quite a squeal... so they were suffering.

"I went into the lounge door and that's when I saw the flames."

Warden had to retreat and wait for the fire service to rescue the kittens. One was given CPR and both had oxygen - and survived.

It was later determined that the blaze had been started by a battery charger for car jump leads.

The entire living room was destroyed in the fire and the rest of the house suffered smoke damage.

Warden said he expected the family would be able to return by the summer.

Research by the charity, Electrical Safety First, found 9% of people in the East of England admitted to never testing their smoke alarm.

Warden said his working smoke alarms saved his family and urged everyone to have one as well as check them regularly.

"That's the thing that woke us up and got us out of the house," he continued.

"God knows, if that wasn't working, we could have woken up to the flames coming up the stairs or worse, not woken up."

Lee Wilkins, head of prevention for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, echoed his message.

"People often think this won't happen to them, it's always something that you hear about with someone else," he said.

"But the stark reminder here is that smoke alarms absolutely do save lives and they are so important."

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