TRAGEDY was narrowly averted when fire broke out at a Kidderminster house which did not have a working smoke alarm.
That is the opinion of sub-officer Mick Rowlands who was part of two Kidderminster crews which raced to the scene of the Clifton Road blaze.
Four family members were evacuated from the Birchen Coppice property, where the inferno began at 2am yesterday and raged for three hours until it was doused by firefighters, leaving one bedroom heavily smoke-damaged.
Mr Rowlands said: "There was a smoke alarm but it hadn't got a battery inside.
"There was nearly a tragedy for the sake of a 99 pence battery and I dread to think what may have happened had the father not woken up.
"We cannot stress highly enough how people must fit working smoke alarms."
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