Firefighters battle blaze at Chester city centre apartment

Jan 12 2012 by Rachel Flint, Chester Chronicle

A MAN jumped from a bedroom window as flames ripped through an apartment in Chester city centre.

At just after 2.30pm on Thursday firefighters were called to City Apartments, City Road, Chester after reports of a flat on fire.

When they arrived smoke was pouring from a second floor flat, where a man was trapped in the bedroom.

The man escaped from the burning building by jumping out of the window, while four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus from Chester fire station used two house reels and a covering jet to extinguish the blaze.

He ended up being treated at the scene by paramedics.

City Road was closed for just over an hour by police while firefighters secured the area and used an industrial sized fan to disperse the smoke.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service remained at the scene of the fire to dampen down the blaze.

Residents living in the apartments, which are run by Muir Group Housing Association, said that the fire alarms failed to go off in the flats and that it was lucky someone noticed the smoke pouring from the apartments and called the fire brigade.

But a spokesperson for Muir insisted that the property complies with health and safety regulations and that the alarms are regularly checked and maintained.

“Following this incident, a test on the fire alarm system including the communal smoke detectors and individual flats heat detectors was carried out and all were found to be in full working order.”

The fire service are currently investigating the cause of the fire, which is thought to have been confined to one apartment.