While most people were enjoying the glorious bank holiday sunshine, it almost caused disaster for a Portland pensioner. 

An 80-year-old woman was led to safety by quick-thinking neighbours after the sun reflecting through her reading magnifying glass caused a fire at her home in Cheyne Close on Sunday. 

The woman, who is registered as partially blind, said: “I have very little eyesight but I love to read and I can’t do it anymore so I bought a big magnifying glass so I could.” 

“I was sitting in the living room and the fire started in the kitchen. I didn’t even smell it let alone anything else.” 

“The neighbours saw the smoke and helped me get out,” she said. 

She added the magnifying glass had been on the kitchen table for months. 

“The sun came through the window. There was an empty egg box and some papers on the side and they caught fire and burnt the kitchen table.”

The elderly woman, who lives alone, said the incident had been frightening and she had not slept well since. 

Neighbour Chris Kerr was the first to notice the disaster unfolding next door. 

“It was about 11.20am. I was in the garden but came in because it was quite hot. I could hear the fire alarm going off and went out to see if everything was alright.

“I could see smoke billowing out the front door. The smoke was thick. It was dreadful, acrid stuff,” she said.

Mr Kerr said she shouted to alert two other neighbours, who ran into the house to assist the elderly woman, and immediately called the fire service. 

She added one neighbour suffered from smoke inhalation after the incident. 

A spokesman for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We received a call from a member of the public at 11:26am to reports of a fire at a domestic property in Cheyne Close, Portland.

“A crew from Portland and one from Weymouth attended the scene and found a small fire in the kitchen which was extinguished with crews wearing two sets of breathing apparatus and using one hose reel jet by 11:54. They then proceeded to ventilate the property.

“It appears that a reading magnifier had focussed the light from the sun onto some paper which caught alight.”

Mrs Kerr said: “It’s very worrying. I have glass ornaments in my conservatory but I’ve moved them now.”

She added she couldn’t praise the fire service highly enough for their speed and the way they dealt with the unusual situation. 

A spokesman for the fire service said they had been called to several fires in recent years caused by sunlight reflecting off glass or a mirror.

They added it was very important to warn people that mirrors or glass ornaments with a curve in them should never be left on a windowsill or by a window.

CONTACT ME:
t: 01305 830809
e: caroline.lewis@dorsetecho.co.uk
twitter: @DorsetEchoCaz