A HOUSE filled with gas after a 94-year-old widow switched on her cooker in a bid to keep warm.

All three emergency services dashed to the terraced property yesterday and opened all the windows amid fears that the leak could cause an explosion.

The pensioner, who has lived in the house all her life, was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

A police spokesman said: “An elderly woman rang to say her home was ‘full of gas’ and said she was having problems turning it off.

“She couldn’t say how long it had been going on so we don’t know how much gas was in the property. But we always take things like this very seriously because gas is highly explosive.”

The emergency services were called to a row of five Grade II listed houses in Rumbridge Street, Totton, just after 8.30am.

No-one was evacuated but Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that windows in the pensioner’s home were flung open to ventilate the property.

One of her neighbours, who did not want to be named, said: “There could have been an explosion.

“I didn’t smell any gas but I’ve got a cold. My budgie is still alive so it can’t have been that bad.

“A police car, an ambulance and a fire engine were parked outside the property yesterday morning. My daughter said the old lady was brought out in a wheelchair.”

Another neighbour added: “When I went to bed at midnight on Thursday her upstairs lights were on and the curtains were open, which was unusual. But I felt it was too late to start knocking on doors.”

A South Central Ambulance Service spokesman added: “We were called to an incident involving gas in a property and a woman in her 90s was taken to hospital.”