Schoolgirl Jenna McLachlan was praised today for raising the alarm after a plumber with a blowtorch set her home alight.
The plumber was fitting a new central heating system when fire broke out in the attic of the semi-detached house in Woodbridge Close, Aston, near Witney, last night.
Jenna, a 15-year-old pupil at Henry Box School, Witney, ran up the stairs, saw the fire and rang the fire brigade.
Fire crews who could see the blaze from five miles away, quickly brought it under control, confined the damage to the roof and stopped it spreading to the neighbouring house.
Jenna's parents, Donald, 61, and Kathleen, 43, arrived home from work to find the house on fire. Mr McLachlan, an operations manager in Witney, praised his daughter's response. He said: "Jenna was the hero. You can walk up my stairs and see the sky. The house is wrecked. I don't know how long it is going to take to put it right. The neighbours have been great and offered all sorts of help."
The plumber was taken to hospital with burns to his arm.
Fire Officer Brian Kew said: "We could see the smoke from the Aston hills.
"When we got here, the house was full of smoke and very hot.
"It could have been much worse - I thought we were going to lose both houses."
Station Officer Kevin Parfitt said the plumber was working in the roof space with a blowtorch when the fire started.
Both houses had working smoke alarms.
Story date: Thursday 29 April
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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