Man dies after his house is filled with smoke from fire

A MAN has died following a fire in the early hours of the morning at his home in Essex.

Firefighters were called to the house in Galleywood Road, Chelmsford at 3.40am on Saturday after the blaze broke out whilst the occupant was asleep.

Crews wearing breathing apparatus pulled the man, in his 40s, from the smoke-filled building whilst he was still alive and he was rushed to Broomfield Hospital where he later died.

A second man, a 33-year-old, was also rescued and taken to hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire was put out with about 30 minutes.

It is not clear at this stage what caused the fire, whic started in the kitchen, but it has emerged that the batteries had been removed from the property’s smoke detector.

A spokesman for Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said: “Incident like this show how important it is to have a working smoke alarm in the home, they provide vital early warning of a fire giving everyone time to get out to safety and away from the toxic smoke which quickly fills the home in a fire.”