Woman Dies in Chiswick Fire

Blaze in Rothschild Road flat in early hours of Good Friday

An elderly woman has died following a fire in the early hours of this morning (6th April) on Rothschild Road.

The fire, which was in a terraced house that had been converted into flats, damaged around a third of the first floor flat. Two men who lived opposite broke down the front door and rescued her before the Fire Brigade arrived but she was later declared dead.

Neighbours were in a state of shock today as they described how the blaze took hold of the upstairs shortly after midnight. One resident described being woken up by shouting and commotion in the street.

"Two men who live across the road broke down the door and ran upstairs. There was smoke billowing but the downstairs was okay. I saw flames coming out of the upstairs. They carried her down the stairs and out to the front of the house and they were trying to revive her while she lay on the ground.

At that stage another neighbour who is a doctor came out and tried to help out.Then the fire brigades and ambulances arrived. The entire street was full of blue flashing lights, anyone would have thought a bomb went off ".

Another neighbour described how he went into the downstairs of the house to check that there was nobody left behind. He said it didn't appear that anyone else had been in the building at the time of the fire.

" We hadn't seen her in a while, she kept to herself. In fact we were wondering lately if she was alright. She used to go to the local shop but it's been a long time since we saw her out and about".

A man living a few doors away from the house said he thought the elderly woman was disabled.

The two men who tried to rescue the woman were not at home today. They were said by a housemate to be very upset .

The Fire Brigade was called at 0057 and the fire was under control by 0220. Firefighters from Chiswick, Acton, Ealing and Battersea were at the scene. Four fire engines and around 20 firefighters attended.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

April 6, 2012