A RESIDENT of a semi-detached house quickly escaped their property with their kitten after a fire broke out.

Firefighters rushed to the scene in Abingdon yesterday after receiving a call at 11.30pm about a kitchen fire.

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Two fire engines from Abingdon fire station were deployed along with an officer and on arrival, crews were faced with a 'heavily smoke-logged' house. 

The resident was alerted to the blaze by the electrics cutting out and the single smoke alarm on the first floor did work, but only once the stairs were full of smoke.

Two firefighters in breathing apparatus entered the home with hose reels to investigate the fire in the kitchen using a fan and a thermal image camera to ventilate the property and to check for any signs of fire spread.

Because some of the doors in the house were open at the time of the blaze, smoke affected most parts of the property. 

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The cause of the fire is still under investigation but is being treated as accidental.

Watch manager Cook, incident commander, said: “The resident did exactly the right thing in getting out of the property as soon as they realised there was a problem.

"The breathing apparatus wearers worked hard to prevent smoke damage to other areas of the house but, due to the doors being open at the time of the fire, some rooms were damaged by smoke along with the fire damage in the kitchen.

“The resident had a working smoke alarm on the first floor however, there was a substantial amount of smoke logging downstairs before the alarm at the top of the stairs actuated.

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"I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to ensure they have working smoke alarms on each level of their home and to check them once a week. Closing internal doors will prevent smoke travel, if you do have a fire, limiting damage to other parts of the property."

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