Woman who woke up to a fire in her kitchen is full of praise for 'incredible' retained firefighters

Just before 1am on Tuesday, Market Drayton resident Angie Moysey was awoken by her husband Mark and the dreaded sound of their smoke alarms.

A fire had begun in a kitchen drawer in the couple's home on Elm Drive, setting fire to the counters in the very room where their 14-month old cockerpoo Walter was sleeping.

But thanks to the quick-thinking couple, their working fire alarms and the hard work of Shropshire's on-call firefighters, the family were saved from total devastation.

Angie, 57, walked us through the dreadful night: "We were both fast asleep, my husband woke first to the sound of the alarms.

"Mark shot out of bed, opened the door and saw the smoke on the landing. He just shouted to me to get up as quickly as I can.

"We got downstairs and Mark opened the kitchen door and was hit by the heat and smoke but luckily he got the dog out, shut the door and we got outside."

The couple put Walter in the car, moved it out of the way and called for help. Within minutes, a fire crew from Market Drayton station was at the scene.

Angie added: "It is everyone's nightmare. You read about it, but you never think it will happen to you.

"Back in the day my dad, Peter, was a retained firefighter in Market Drayton for around 20 years, and he always instilled fire safety into us and told us about fire alarms.

"We have one outside the bedroom door and one at the bottom of the stairs, as well as a heat alarm in in the kitchen."

Later, the crews at Market Drayton station praised quick-thinking Angie and Mark, who not only had working fire alarms but closed all the doors in the property - slowing the spread of the blaze and containing it to the kitchen.

The two crews worked for just under an hour to tackle the fire, which had by that point spread to part of the kitchen ceiling and nearby door frame.

At first, Angie said, they all thought the fire had involved the refrigerator.

"They [firefighters] eventually found it had started in some kitchen drawers, which just have stuff like tea towels and kitchen utensils in. But it was actually batteries that were in the bottom drawer.

"I couldn't believe it, everyone we've spoken to has got dead batteries lying around. You can't throw them away so you just chuck them in a drawer.

"We aren't sure how it started, but that's all they can put it down to - batteries."

Whilst the couple and Walter all managed to get out safely, their home has been hit hard by damage from the fire and smoke.

"The whole kitchen will have to be replaced," Angie explained. "Thankfully the fire was contained but the heat broke the kitchen windows, damaged the ceiling and everything is black and damaged.

"The entire house is really badly smoke damaged, everything's brown - even the bathroom. We'll have to redo the whole house, every soft furnishing is ruined and we'd never get the smell out, it's awful."

Despite the damage to her home, Angie was in good spirits and praised the work of Shropshire's firefighters.

Crews from Market Drayton and neighbouring Hodnet attended the fire at Angie's home, both from stations operated by on-call - sometimes known as retained - firefighters.

These firefighters do everyday jobs until a call comes - when they spring into action to fight fires. They are required to be within five minutes of their station for around 80 to 120 hours a week.

Angie added: "The retained crews are incredible, they do it all around their own lives, just drop everything to save lives. We just can't thank them enough."

After the incident, the crew from Market Drayton urged people to check their alarms.

A spokesperson said: "If they [Angie and Mark] had not had working smoke alarms, this could very easily have been a far more serious incident.

"We recommend that you have at least one working smoke alarm per floor of your property and that you test them regularly to ensure they work.

"We wish the owners of the property all the best and hope that the damage is soon repaired."