A terrified elderly couple barricaded themselves in their bedroom early today after a fire broke out downstairs.
The husband and wife, aged in their 70s, rang 999 after smoke alarms went off at around 1.20am as they slept in their semi at Moorcroft Drive, Dewsbury.
They blocked the gap at the bottom of the bedroom door with bedding and stayed in the bedroom.
Two fire crews from Dewsbury and one from Cleckheaton arrived to find the couple at the upstairs window.
Despite the house being filled with smoke, the man dashed downstairs to let the fire brigade in.
Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered and discovered the cause of the fire to be a faulty freezer in a utility room. They removed the freezer and an ambulance crew attended the couple, who were shocked but not injured.
Dewsbury crew commander Steve Carruthers said: “They did everything right by staying in the bedroom and blocking out the smoke.
“Smoke alarms save lives and it was the alarms which alerted them to the fire. If they hadn’t had them, they would not have known about the fire.”
