A young family, their flat and business in Caerwys, Wales were saved thanks to a fire alarm.

Fire broke out at the accommodation located above the general store, while the couple and their eight-month old infant were downstairs with friends. When the alarm sounded, they thought it was in another property but on investigation realised that their flat was ablaze.

Mr Singh, who runs the ground floor shop, ran upstairs to find the fire in the bedroom. He tried to put it out with buckets of water but was overwhelmed by smoke and escaped to another room. He was briefly trapped upstairs, but managed to get out safely. 

Fire investigators said the blaze was caused by an electrical fault, and a spokesman for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the bedroom suffered 100% fire damage, with 80% smoke damage to the rest of the property.

Original source

The Leader

Commercial buildings, non-domestic and multi-occupancy premises in England and Wales are already forced to undertake a 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment carried out under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

While the overwhelming majority of premises do this, if the assessment is thought to have been carried out to an insufficient extent, the Responsible Person can face an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.