Rat rescued as flat blazes

A pet rat was rescued from a fire in Kidderminster which was started by tea lights left too close to a sofa.

The blaze broke out in the living room of a ground floor flat in Avon Road while the occupants were out. A crew from Kidderminster fire station was sent at 12.30pm yesterday and forced the front floor.

Crew commander Warren Midgley said: "The living room was severely smoke logged. We had to use a thermal imaging camera to locate the seat of the fire, and we rescued a pet rat."