THE deputy head of Penryn College has said he and his family are lucky to be alive after a fire forced them to flee their home in the middle of the night.

James Lushington said if it wasn't for the working smoke detectors the outcome could have been much worse.

He told the Packet he was woken at around 2.45am by alarms ringing through his house in Mylor Bridge and bundled his wife, three children, and the dog through the front door before calling the fire brigade.

He said he did go back to try and use a fire blanket to fight the flames, which had started in a dishwasher, but said the blaze had already taken hold in the kitchen and he was forced to retreat.

He said: “If I could leave a lasting message to anybody: if you haven’t got smoke detectors fitted, get them now. If it wasn’t for that you wouldn’t be talking to me today.

He added: “When it’s happening in your own home, you have that acrid smell as you wake up, and that fire alarm going off, to respond really quickly with that in your house, the first instinct is to get everybody out.”

Two fire engines from Falmouth were sent to the scene, and by around 3.15am there were four engines from Falmouth and Truro fighting the flames before ventilating the building and cutting away material which posed any risk.

As James, his wife Jane and their children Hope, 16, Jack, 15, and Martha, 11, had come out barefoot and dressed in only pyjamas, the Red Cross fire and emergency support vehicle provided them with clothes, tea, and a place to keep warm.

James said: “A massive thank you to the Red Cross volunteers, and the fire crews and retained firefighters that had to get out of bed and put cover on when the full time crews were assisting us.”

He said the community had also been very helpful, with colleagues from the college ringing to offer words of support, and offers of places to stay. He even thinks one of the firefighters on scene was the father of one of his children’s school friends, which made him appreciate “how close-knit a community it is.”

The children were “really upset” and James said Hope had thought the culmination of her hard GCSE work would “come crashing down,” but despite getting very little sleep, she had managed to attend her very last day at Penryn College on Tuesday to say goodbye to her teachers and friends.

Tips James had picked up from school caretaker and on-call fireman Alex Cox allowed him to escape safely, as well as closing doors to prevent the spread of the fire, although there was smoke damage and a burnt smell throughout the building.

Now James hopes to help Alex with regular talks he gives to pupils at the school, providing a cautionary tale and teaching them about the importance of being prepared, with a planned escape route and working smoke detectors.

“We have to take each day as it comes,” he said, “and be thankful that we have a house to come back to.”