A teenage girl has been told her quick actions saved the lives of five of her family trapped in a house blaze in Oxford, writes Karen Rosine.

The Oxford Mail launched a campaign last December to get a smoke alarm fitted in every house in Oxfordshire, following a series of fatal house fires in the county.

Two people died in Oxfordshire house fires without smoke alarms in January. Yesterday, 74-year-old Eric Allsworth died in a fire in a house in Spencer Crescent, Rose Hill. The house had a smoke alarm but it was not fitted with a battery. Neighbours tried in vain to rescue Mr Allsworth - breaking down his front door with a sledgehammer and carrying both him and his wife Dorothy, 68, outside.

She is seriously ill in the John Radcliffe Hospital. Mr Allsworth died at the scene.

Station Officer Francis Eckersley said: "The couple did have a smoke alarm but there was no battery fitted.

"There is evidence the fire was smouldering for quite some time before it took hold, and if the smoke alarm had been working properly it could have saved Mr Allsworth's life." There was a happier story the previous night when seven-month-old baby Connor Wells, four children and their father Andy, 32, were rescued from a burning house.

Firefighters said the smoke alarm fitted to the house and the actions of oldest daughter 15-year-old Stacey Newbold stopped the incident ending in tragedy.

Today, Steve Vermeulen, an Oxfordshire community fire safety officer, said Stacey had been in the house with the children and dad Andy Wells.

An unattended chip pan caught fire and the smoke alarm went off, alerting her to the fire. The teenager immediately took charge of the children on the first floor, who were trapped by the smoke coming up the stairs.

Mr Vermeulen said: "She realised from all the smoke coming up the stairs she was not going to be able to escape, so she got the children together and went into the front bedroom and closed the door.

"She then opened the window and shouted for help."

Neighbours heard her screams and leapt into action, calling emergency services and grabbing a ladder from a nearby house to rescue two of the children. Fire crews then led the rest to safety including one-year-old Connor Wells and Mr Wells.

The family were taken to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation.

Mr Vermeulen added: "It was exactly because of her actions that we got there quickly and that the neighbours were able to get the ladder there.

"She kept the children together and reasonably calm and because of her they are alive today.

"She said she had learnt this at school. "It does not take too much to say that this was a very serious fire - another couple of minutes and it would have ended in tragedy."

The Oxford Mail launched its campaign after toddler Ashley Towe died in a fire at his home in Banbury in January.

It followed a series of fires in the county - many resulting when houses were either not fitted with alarms or the alarms were not working properly.

Often people had removed the battery because it occasionally sounded while they cooked.

Story date: Friday 23 April

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