I REFER to the article relating to a chip pan fire at Tanyard Close, Alvechurch (Advertiser, June 12).

I would like to put the record straight as the details published were not correct.

I was the person who raised the alarm. I was out in the garden when I could hear a smoke detector ringing; this went on for around half-an-hour.

I then went inside to take a phone call and while I was on the phone, I could see smoke coming out of the window. I ended my call and ran round to the warden's house to tell her.

Both the warden and I went back to the flat and the warden opened the front door. The staircase was full of smoke.

She called out to the occupant, who did not respond. She asked me to call the fire brigade.

When I returned, the warden was outside trying to get her breath. She said it was a chip pan fire and she had put a wet cloth over the pan.

She said the occupant was on the floor in the lounge (not the kitchen) and she couldn't move him by herself and asked me if I would go back into the flat with her.

We both went back into the flat and between us dragged the occupant out onto the staircase, where there was a chair, and we sat him on this chair and closed the door to keep the smoke from coming down the staircase. We then both went down the stairs to wait for the fire brigade.

When the fire brigade arrived, they helped the occupant down the stairs and sat him on a chair outside until the ambulance came.

While the occupant was waiting for the ambulance, I went and made him a cup of sweet tea and got a blanket to wrap around him (he was diabetic and had gone into hypo).

I do not wish to have my name printed in the paper, nor do I want any praise or reward.

I am just thankful that I noticed the smoke when I did and could raise the alarm because who knows what might have happened.

Thankfully, the occupant is now out of hospital and back in his flat.

Name and address supplied