Baby taken to hospital after tower block blaze (From Daily Echo)

Baby taken to hospital after blaze at Shirley Towers in Southampton

6:30am Monday 21st January 2013 in News By Emma Streatfield, Senior Reporter

THREE people including an eight-week-old baby were taken to hospital after a fire broke out in a Southampton tower block.

A family-of-four living in a flat on the fifth floor of Shirley Towers escaped to the fire exit away from the blaze in their living room and alerted the emergency services.

They were then escorted out of the building by firefighters.

A man in his 30s and two children, aged eight weeks and two years, were taken to hospital for precautionary checks but were released the next morning.

No residents were evacuated during the incident, at about 3.20am on Saturday, and fire and smoke damage was limited to the living room.

As is procedure in a tower block fire, many fire engines attended – a crew from Redbridge, three from St Mary’s, one from Totton and from Eastleigh an aerial ladder platform and special equipment unit.

Fire investigators concluded that the cause was accidental but there were no more details about how the fire had started.