Fatal house fire deemed accidental

We can confirm that the cause of the fatal fire in Leek was accidental.  

Multiple crews were alerted to smoke coming out of a house on James Street just after 10pm on Saturday night (24 February).

We forced entry into the building and extinguished the fire in an upstairs bedroom.

A woman in her 70s was found unresponsive inside. Sadly, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

We have been working alongside our colleagues at Staffordshire Police to determine how the fire started, and can now confirm it was as a result of an accidental electrical fault.

We’d like to extend our sincere condolences to the woman’s family at this deeply traumatic time.