Elderly woman escapes home after ‘wheat bag’ fire

An 80-year-old woman was forced to flee her home after a hot wheat bag she was using to keep warm, burst into flames.

The lady called the fire service to her home in Cleethorpes at around 2.30am on 19th October after she was woken by her smoke alarm and saw smoke billowing from the wheat bag.

Watch manager Ken Mawer who attended the fire said: “The lady had gone to bed at 10.30pm so the bag had been smouldering for some time. At some point it had fallen to the floor and caught fire. Thankfully there was a working smoke alarm in the property which alerted her to the fire. There is no doubt that if the house had not been fitted with a smoke alarm the outcome could have been a very different one.”

Mr Mawer added: “I cannot stress enough the importance of reading the manufacturer’s instructions before using a wheat bag. I urge people to be extra careful, never wrap them up in other fabrics as this can cause them to overheat and catch fire.”

The bag is a type of pillow filled with wheat which is heated in the microwave and will remain warm for a few hours. In this incident, the wheat had overheated and started to smoulder inside the pillow.

The woman, who does not want to be named, said: “It was all right for a while and I fell asleep. The next thing I knew there was a lot of thick, dark smoke filling the room. It was enough to set my fire alarm off. I tried to keep calm but it wasn’t very pleasant. I am the sort of person that hates bothering anyone and I thought of my poor son who would have to come out. I didn’t have a choice but to ring the fire brigade. It has given me a wake up call. You just don’t expect that sort of thing to happen but the fireman told me it has happened before. I will definitely be sticking to my bed socks from now on. I am just grateful I had a working fire alarm. I don’t like to think what could have happened.”

The lady was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation but did not require hospital treatment.

In 2010 there were three deaths in the UK caused by overheated wheat bags.  Surrey and Sussex Fire and Rescue Service filmed a warning video earlier this year, on the dangers of incorrect use of wheat bags.