A HOUSE in Valley Park, in which a woman died, did not have a working smoke detector.

A spokeswoman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue said that the detached house, in Tees Close at Valley Park, did have a smoke detector in the upstairs part of the building, but it had been removed from its original site because the batteries needed replacing.

She said that only one smoke detector in a building of this size was not considered enough.

"We recommend smoke detectors to alert people quickly so they have as much time as possible to get out," she added.

As the Advertiser went to press yesterday (Thursday), the cause of the blaze, which happened in the early hours of last Friday, was still not known. The spokeswoman said police and fire service investigators were still working at the property.

Yvonne Herod, 54, died when her home caught fire in the early hours of last Friday morning.

Her two sons, aged 24 and 21, escaped by jumping from an upstairs window. Both men were taken to Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. One also received treatment for minor burns.

The alarm was raised by neighbours at 1am and four fire appliances attended, three from Eastleigh and one from Redbridge. A total of 25 firefighters battled the blaze, which was so intense that it gutted the house.

The first appliance arrived within six minutes and, although the flames died down quickly, it took 45 minutes for the fire to be completely extinguished. Firefighters found Mrs Herod's body on the ground floor.

Station officer at Eastleigh, Alec Martin, said the fire appeared to have developed very quickly and crews were surprised at how fiercely it was burning.

The full horror of the tragedy became clear as fire investigators went about their work later in the morning, with the help of a sniffer dog from the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service's fire investigation search dog unit.

Every window in the property was broken and flames appeared to have burned a hole in the roof.

Ground-floor windows had been covered with plastic sheeting. Neighbours told how they had been awakened by the brothers shouting for their mother, but the house was already engulfed in flames.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said everybody in the close knew the family and were shocked.

Police at Eastleigh said at the weekend they were working with forensic scientists and the fire investigators to establish the cause of the fire. The fire service spokeswoman said that the service provided free safety checks to residents.

She said their community safety team had been talking to people in the area and offering them advice on safety. They had fitted smoke alarms to several properties and also advised on planning escape routes from homes in the event of an emergency.

"The message is that people should check their alarms regularly, make sure they have batteries in them, and also plan how they would escape from a fire," she added.

An inquest into Mrs Herod's death opened in Winchester on Wednesday. It was adjourned by Central Hampshire coroner.