A faulty electric blanket is believed to have caused a fire which badly damaged a Ranfurly home last night.
The owner of the roughcast villa in Caulfield St, an elderly man, was in the lounge about 5.30pm when he heard the smoke alarm go off, Ranfurly Fire Brigade Senior Station Officer Greg Baddock said.
''He saw the bed was smoking and went to get something to put out the fire, and by the time he came back with some water, the fire was fully involved,'' Mr Baddock said.
The man contacted emergency services and escaped the home unharmed, although shaken.
He stayed the night at a relative's home.
About 16 Ranfurly firefighters attended and two crews at a time, wearing breathing apparatus, fought the blaze.
They were at the site for about two hours.
''The house was really just around the corner from the fire station so we had the fire under control within about 30 minutes,'' he said.
The man's daughter had been staying with him and the fire was started by an electric blanket on the bed she was using.
It was timely to remind people to get their electric blankets regularly checked by an electrician, Mr Baddock said.
The fire illustrated the importance of smoke alarms - '' the alarm alerted the man to the fire early on''.
The bedroom and ''about 40%'' of the home was badly fire-damaged and there was smoke damage throughout, he said.
