FIREFIGHTERS rescued two boys from a burning flat in Wantage Market Place on Saturday night.

Fire crews broke into the flat to rescue a six-year-old boy and used ladders to reach a 15-year-old who had escaped through a window on to a roof.

The flat, above an empty shop, was fitted with a fire alarm but it had no batteries.

Three fire crews from Wantage and Didcot, with specialist equipment from Kidlington and Oxford, tackled the blaze which started in a utility room. The boys were alone when fire crews arrived just before 10.30pm.

Oxfordshire Fire Service divisional officer Lawrie Booth stressed the need to make sure fire alarms were always properly maintained.

"If the alarm had been working it would have alerted the occupiers much sooner, as it was, they were in far greater danger," he said.

Firefighters and police rescued the six-year-old boy from the flat.

"The 15-year-old had climbed out on to the roof via a window and we used a ladder to reach him," said Mr Booth.

The 15-year-old was taken to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

Meanwhile, a man and a dog were saved from boarded up furniture shop in Oxford.

The man rescued from the Suite Centre in Littlegate House, St Ebbe's, on Saturday night was treated for the effects of smoke.

Fire crews searching the building found the man and his dog on the ground floor.

The fire service said: "We believe the man may have entered the building for shelter."

The fire is thought to have started when carpet caught alight.

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