Couple rescued from burning flat

Firefighters rescued an elderly couple, one of them in a wheelchair, from a burning flat in Bedfordshire.

The couple were taken from the ground floor flat in Iddlesleigh Road, Bedford, early on Sunday, after crews received a 999 call from a neighbour.

A younger man was also led to safety from an upper floor bedroom.

The fire spread from a fireplace in the upstairs bedroom under the flooring, Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue service said.

The flat was not fitted with a smoke detector.

Dave Wright, of Kempston Fire Station, said: "The message here is that people must have working smoke detectors.

"The house on fire was filling with smoke and it was spreading next door.

"It was the next door neighbour's smoke alarm which alerted them to the danger. If the fire had been allowed to go on for much longer people would have died."

Fire crews have now fitted smoke alarms at the property.