Pan fire alert at city flats

Residents fled from flats in Wolverhampton when a chip pan fire broke out.

The blaze was in a converted Victorian property on Newhampton Road East.It started in a first floor flat of the three-storey property containing six flats.

Communal areas suffered smoke damage as a result of the blaze, at 5.30pm yesterday. Six residents were evacuated for around 30 minutes while firefighters worked.

Tettenhall fire station officer Paul Baker said the cause was an unattended chip pan.

Elsewhere, a woman in her 20s was rescued by firefighters today after a blaze at her home in Tipton.

Crews were called to Puddlers Drive just after midnight by a neighbour.They found smoke coming from a bedroom window.

A woman was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.