Couple rescued after bins set alight

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said the Sheffield couple had to be woken by firefighters in the early hours of Sunday after flames threatened their maisonette flat.

Officers said the blaze started when a blue paper recycling bin was set on fire in a storage area outside the flat, spreading to a wooden door of the storage area and causing the kitchen window to crack.

Fire crews from Mansfield Road and Central stations were called to the blaze by neighbours on Spring Close Mount, in the Gleadless area of the city, at around 2.20am.

They woke the couple, in their 50’s, before leading them to safety. The couple did not need hospital treatment.

Brigade group manager Ade Robinson, who co-ordinated the rescue, said: “The fire would have reached their flat had the firefighters not arrived so quickly.

“Thankfully the occupants weren’t injured in this case but this incident shows how a small fire can quickly spread to put lives in danger.”