AN ELDERLY woman was rescued by firefighters after a fire in a block of flats yesterday .The blaze started in the bathroom of a first-floor flat in Quayside Court, Harwich, shortly before midday.

By Juliette Maxam

AN ELDERLY woman was rescued by firefighters after a fire in a block of flats yesterday .

The blaze started in the bathroom of a first-floor flat in Quayside Court, Harwich, shortly before midday. Smoke spread to the flat next-door where an 80-year-old woman lives.

The smoke aggravated the woman's asthma. She was helped out of the building by firefighters and given oxygen therapy treatment on the scene before handing her into the care of Essex Ambulance Service. She was then taken to Colchester General Hospital for observation.

Sub Officer Terry Jewell, from Dovercourt Fire Station, said the bathroom where the fire started was badly damaged as was the hallway of the same flat. The rest of the flat and the elderly woman's flat were smoke-logged.

A young couple, who live in the flat where the fire started, called the fire brigade when they got home and found the blaze.

By the time two fire crews arrived most of the people from the four-storey block of flats were outside.

Mr Jewell said firefighters were able to put out the flames quickly, but it took longer to ventilate the building and check for occupants inside every flat.

He said an investigation into the cause of the fire has started. The incident is not being treated as suspicious.

The road outside the flats, The Quay, was closed to traffic while firefighters brought the situation under control.

nAt 2.39am two crews from Dovercourt fire station were sent to a house fire in Park Road, Harwich.

A fire had started in an outbuilding. Firefighters put out the blaze and stopped it from spreading to the main house.

The occupier of the house told the fire service he believed someone had broken into his garden and deliberately set fire to his outhouse.

The fire is being treated as suspicious.