Braintree firefighters rescue dog from kitchen fire

Crews from Halstead and Braintree were called to a kitchen fire in Stanstrete Field at 6.36pm after neighbours heard smoke alarms going off.

On arrival, crews could see the fire and smoke through the kitchen window. They entered the property quickly and found Waffle, a cockapoo, trapped in the house. 

Crews rescued Waffle and used the SmokeyPaws pet oxygen masks as it was suffering with smoke inhalation. 

Watch manager Matthew Nash said: “We’d like to thank the neighbours who heard the smoke alarm sounding and rang us immediately. This allowed our crews to get there quickly, extinguish the fire and rescue Waffle.

“Once we got Waffle outside we could see it was subdued and suffering the effects of smoke inhalation. We quickly applied the specialist pet oxygen masks that we carry on our fire engines to give Waffle oxygen. After a few minutes you could tell there was a significant improvement.” 

“The fire started when the hob was accidentally switched on and caused items on top of it to set alight. We can’t say it enough, please do not leave items on top of your hob. We attend so many incidents where people have used the hob as a storage area and items have set alight, it’s just not worth the risk.”