Woman and children escape smouldering bed

PHOTO/JOHN BORREN

A woman and two children were lucky to wake up and escape after an electric blanket caught fire in their Waihi home last night.

Waihi fire service were called to the Dobson St home about 1am this morning to the smouldering bed and blankets and the smoke-filled house.

Chief fire officer Moe Stevens said the woman had gone to bed with her electric blanket still on and in the night it had begun to smoulder the mattress and bedding.

"Luckily they woke up and cleared the house," he said.

"There was a smoke alarm there but it was on the floor with no batteries in it."

The woman was taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, he said.

Fire fighters removed the smouldering bed from the house and aired out the smoke, he said.

He believed a wall had been slightly damaged in the fire but the rest of the house was not damaged.

It was the first winter-warm-up related fire they had dealt with in a while, he said.

"When you go to bed, disconnect the blanket from power."