FAULTY electricity meters sparked fires at two Huddersfield homes.
A woman cooking at her house in Hawthorne Terrace in Hillhouse noticed the lights flickering at 6.50pm yesterday.
She went into the cellar to check the meter and found smoke pouring from it.
She and her five children went to a neighbour's home to raise the alarm.
Firefighters smothered the fire with their gloves.
The flames had spread to the ceiling and got through a gap in the floorboards to the skirting board above.
The second fire was at a house in Stoney Cross Street, Taylor Hill, at midnight.
The occupier found smoke coming out of his meter and called Yorkshire Electricity.
An electrician was sent, but the smoke was too thick and he called firefighters.
The smoke seeped into the house next door and an 81-year-old woman there was given oxygen after breathing in smoke.
Paramedics checked her condition, but she did not go to hospital.
The fire was caused by a loose wire.
