at about 4am this morning our neighbours house across the road caught fire.
the elderly couple who lived there Brian and Doreen both died.

i managed to kick the front door in with help from other neighbours but we unable to gain entry because of the smoke a few minutes later the fire brigade arrived.
sadly they found them upstairs but both had died.

it was our dogs who alerted us to this as they were both going bonkers at 4am due to smoke alarms in the house going off ...

That's really sad to hear.

Any idea what caused it?

Sounds a bit morbid to say, but I hoped they died from smoke inhalation during sleep (ie peacefully) rather than being burned to death whilst alive.

I test (normally by burring the toast) the smoke alarms in my house (have 2 plus a CO detector)

A fire starting at 4AM is most likely either an electrical fault or possibly someone falling asleep with a cigarette still lit, but obviously there'll be at least a coroner's report and possibly an inquest.

Have to say when I saw the post I was initially worried Steve & family might have been directly involved. Glad to see you're safe despite the tragic circumstances.

Brian had heart problems and his wife had dementia and was a heavy smoker. at this time there is no clue of the cause but its highly likely to be due to smoking. they are still under a tent at the moment awaiting to remove both bodies which seem to be badly burnt. not a great start to any ones day thankfully the wife and i have today off ...

we have two smoke detectors one downstairs one upstairs and no smoking policy for upstairs ...

here's a report about it in the bucks free press.
http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/15 ... ouse_fire/

we have just been allowed to place flowers. may they both RIP ...

I'm in the process of buying a house and I got treated like I was being picky when I asked about the smoke alarms - sadly this sort of thing is why I asked. I hope you're not too shaken Steve.

We've just been testing a new style of smoke alarm alert for Derbyshire Fire Services & Dundee University.
It's supposed to be more effective at waking children.
Given the test conditions and just our own experience, I can't say whether it's effective.