FIRE chiefs have urged Crewe and Nantwich householders to take more active steps to ensure protection from house fires.

The warning follows a potentially fatal incident in Crewe when a hard of hearing resident failed to hear his smoke alarm as fire ravaged his living room.

The incident happened in the early hours of Friday morning on April 6 in Samuel Street, Crewe.

A 54-year-old man who had removed his hearing aid on going to bed had failed to hear his smoke alarms when the fire broke out at 12.23am.

Luckily, the man's neighbour heard the alarm, and called the fire brigade out.

Three appliances from Crewe and Nantwich attended the scene and firefighters broke down the door and found the fire in the front room, where the settee was alight.

Community Safety Officer with Cheshire Fire Brigade, Kevin Hughes, said the combination of community thinking and safety conscious actions on behalf of the householder, shutting all the doors in the house, had saved his life.

"We are full of praise for the neighbour, he may have saved the gentleman's life," said Mr Hughes.

"We cannot stress enough the importance of having a working smoke alarm and the importance of closing doors at night as closing doors can help hold back the fire and smoke," he added.

Mr Hughes maintained it was important to carry out regular checks on the smoke alarms too but stressed that people be careful when checking them and not stand on chairs.

The Fire Service in Crewe will carry out free fire safety visits to any household in Crewe and offer free smoke alarms, and free safety advice, just contact 211144 for more information.

Mr Hughes added: "It is important to have a fire plan, and discuss what you would do should there be a fire."