2 admitted to hospital after heater catches fire
Three people were injured and dozens were evacuated from a flat in Western after a heater apparently overheated and set a bed alight during yesterday's cold weather.
The blaze broke out at about 7.40am in a flat on the 17th floor of the Koon Wah Building, Queen's Road West. Dark smoke filled the flat, then came out of the windows and flooded the whole floor. Two teams of firefighters were sent to the scene.
Paramedics carried the three injured people from the building on stretchers. A 40-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman, from the same flat, suffered from smoke inhalation and minor burns. They were sent to Queen Mary Hospital.
Another woman received medical treatment at the scene but did not require hospital treatment.
Initial investigations showed the family put a heater too close to their bed because of the cold weather. It overheated because of an electrical fault and set fire to bed sheets.
'It looks like the people were careless and put their heater too close to their bed,' a Fire Services Department spokesman said.
The elderly woman was later discharged and the man remained in hospital in a stable condition.
Dozens of residents were evacuated from the building. Firefighters said the cause of the fire was not suspicious and it was extinguished in less than 30 minutes.
