Father killed in blaze sparked by hairdryer

A father died in a house fire sparked by an overheated hairdryer despite a battle by emergency crews to save his life.

Firefighters discovered Ram Joshi unconscious on the landing of his home in The Fold, Penn.

They performed CPR on the 56-year-old for 20 minutes but he was later pronounced dead at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton after going into cardiac arrest.

Neighbours today told how smoke and flames billowed out of the windows while firefighters tackled the blaze.

Mr Joshi leaves wife Bina Dawett and son Anil Dawett. The family run the popular beauty salon B's Beauty Lounge on Penn Road, which opened in 2008.

The fire started at around 9.45pm on Saturday. Crews from Wolverhampton and Bilston were there until 3am yesterday. Wolverhampton watch commander Warren

Davies said the flames were so severe that his firefighters struggled to get past them at one point.

"We found the gentleman on the landing," said Mr Davis. "We carried out CPR for 20 minutes as he was suffering from severe smoke inhalation. Unfortunately, he later died at New Cross Hospital. At first we thought there may have been three people inside so we kept going back in to search for the other two.

"But one of the neighbours told us the gentleman's wife and son were out for the evening. It was a severe fire, slow-burning and extremely hot.

"Our crews struggled to get in at one point."

Mr Davis said the upstairs of the house was completely destroyed and it was no longer habitable.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman Claire Thomas said paramedics battled to save Mr Joshi but he was confirmed dead shortly after arrival at hospital.

A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "The family have lived there for six years. We called him Josh and always waved and said hello. He was a nice man."