FIREFIGHTERS are urging people to ensure their homes are fitted with working smoke alarms following four serious house fires in York.

Three properties were badly damaged and an elderly man from Tang Hall narrowly escaped death as a result of the four blazes which all occurred on Monday.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service believe the man owes his life to his smoke alarm. The alarm awoke a neighbour in the early hours, who then rescued the unconscious pensioner from his bedroom.

However, the further three fires could have been less serious if smoke alarms had been in operation.

The second fire involved flammable materials outside the rear door of a property in Dringhouses, but smoke streaming into the building went undetected because detectors did not have working batteries.

An incident in the Elvington area left a property badly damaged by smoke and heat, and the occupier suffering smoke inhalation, after a candle left on a bedroom floor caused a fire to start. A smoke alarm was not fitted in the property.

A final house fire in Haxby left a retired couple injured and their two terriers dead. The property was so badly damaged that it is not yet known if the house had alarms fitted or what was the cause of the fire.

Assistant Divisional Officer Joe Catton said: "The incidents demonstrate the importance of fitting smoke alarms, and making sure they are in working order.

"In the first incident, the alarm was raised in the early hours of the morning and the occupant rescued by a neighbour. The properties that were not fitted with smoke alarms, or had inoperative alarms, suffered bad smoke and fire damage and could have proved fatal to the occupiers had the fires occurred in the early hours of the morning."

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service provide a fitting service for smoke alarms. For more information regarding this service, call 01609 780150 and ask for the Community Fire Safety Officer.

Updated: 10:40 Wednesday, February 25, 2004