A FIRE alarm at a block of flats in Weymouth is making residents' lives a misery - because they cannot turn it off.

The alarm sounded at the Carlton Road North property early yesterday, after sausages left under a grill sparked a kitchen fire.

Firefighters dealt with the blaze but the alarm was still ringing as people left for work several hours later - and residents say it is not the first time it has happened.

Caroline Lester, who has lived at the 34-flat site for seven years, said: "Once it's gone off there's no local key-holder to turn it off.

"It's not the fire service's responsibility and the housing association don't seem to have any procedure in place.

"I was at my wits' end yet again yesterday morning. I couldn't wait to go to work."

Design technician Mrs Lester said there's no way of knowing if the alarm is still ringing for the initial fire or if there's another blaze. She said: "It's just not safe. You can't tell if there's a new fire or not.

"My daughter kept saying she was worried there was another fire. She's old enough to understand but there are younger children living here.

"You're left relying on the goodwill of people to let you know what's going on."

Mrs Lester, her husband Matt and her daughter Maple, 10, were kept awake by the alarm, which is outside her front door.

"It's very loud and it was right in the middle of night," she said.

"We were all up in our dressing gowns and then I had to try and get Maple back to sleep.

"But my main concern is safety. It's not a good situation to be in."

Mrs Lester said she has spoken to flat providers Knightstone Housing Association about the problem in the past.

"It's happened at least twice before," she added.

"They say it's down to the alarm company but they're based in Southampton.

"There's something wrong here, this is not a one-off. They've had plenty of opportunity to fix it but nothing's been done."

Knightstone Housing Association assistant director for maintenance David Greenhalgh said: "We'd like to sincerely apologise to the residents and the neighbours for the inconvenience.

"We're now looking to provide a key safe at the property that the fire service can access to turn the alarm off in the future.

"If the fire service agree we'll put that in place as soon as possible. We'll do all we can to ensure this doesn't happen again."