No smoke alarm in death-fire flat

The man, who was in his eighties, is thought to have fallen asleep with a lit cigarette in his housing association flat - which was not fitted with a smoke alarm.

A joint investigation into his death has been launched by Cleveland Police and the fire brigade, following the incident at Dales Park Road, Hemlington, near Middlesbrough.

Neighbour Jane Atkinson said: "It's shocking that a man of his age should die in a fire with no smoke alarms.

"He was deaf, but we would have heard alarms and could have got him out. This is the second time there's been a fire there."

Neighbours battled to save the pensioner from the fire, which broke out at about 8am on Saturday, but were beaten back by thick smoke.

Firefighters tackled the blaze for over an hour, but were called back yesterday when smoke was seen billowing from vents.

Officers wearing breathing apparatus broke into the ground-floor flat at around noon to extinguish the reignited blaze.

Duty Officer Mike Smith said: "Preliminary findings indicate a fire starting in the living room during the early hours, where the victim was lying on the settee.

"It was a slow-burning fire, with smoke and poisonous fumes quickly filling the room.

"When neighbours were alerted by the blackened windows and smoke, they made quite heroic attempts to get into the property.

"There were no smoke alarms, and a tragedy like this unfortunately highlights their importance.

"If there had been smoke alarms, they would have given him a fighting chance."

Cleveland Fire Brigade have fitted 60,000 smoke alarms during a safety drive over the past 12 months. Visual smoke alarms are available for the hard of hearing.

Detective Sergeant Ian Craig, of Cleveland Police, said results from a post-mortem examination were due to be released.

Attempts are being made to contact the man's sister, who is believed to be in America.

Erimus Housing, which is responsible for the property, is to carry out an investigation.