An elderly couple say they are ‘lucky to be alive’ after managing to contain a fire at their Freshwater East home with a garden hose, as they waited for firefighters to arrive.

The residents were woken up by smoke detectors at 3am on Thursday, February 4th, which enabled them to escape unharmed from the blaze and raise the alarm.

“We’ve got hose pipes that reach all the way around our house as we’re both gardeners, so we used that until the fire brigade got here.” said the owner, who asked not to be named.

“If we hadn’t had smoke alarms, heaven knows what would have happened.”

Fire crews from Milford Haven, Tenby and Pembroke Dock attended the scene, and remained there until 7.30am.

The blaze started in the roof void of the property and filled the living room with billowing smoke.

“Until you go through it yourself, you don’t realise how bad the smoke could be. It was like a black wall,” said the owner.

“The fire service was absolutely brilliant. The crews had a real rough time. It was not easy for them as you can’t get large vehicles down our path.”

As a result of the incident, the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue service is appealing for people to take advantage of their free home fire safety check, after smoke detectors saved the couple from losing their home and their lives.

The public can arrange a free fire check by contacting the fire service on 0800 389 9279 or by visiting www.

mawwfire.gov.uk.