THREE elderly women suffered smoke inhalation after a blaze broke out at a sheltered housing complex in Kilwinning.

Fire appliances from Kilwinning and Dreghorn Community Fire Stations responded to a report of a kitchen fire in Robert Service Court on Wednesday, June 24 at around 10pm.

The fire broke out in the kitchen of one of the properties and resulted in three elderly women being given oxygen therapy treatment by fire crews due to slight smoke inhalation and as a precautionary measure all of the ladies were checked over by Scottish Ambulance Service.

Incident Commander Colin McGhee instructed crews to extinguish the small fire by smothering it which brought it quickly under control.

The fire crews on scene spent approximately one hour at the property striping away any areas of the kitchen damaged by the fire and utilised a thermal imaging camera to ensure there was no risk of fire spread within the building.

Station Manager Derek Davidson warned residents to be vigilant when cooking at home.

He said: “This was the second cooking related kitchen fire within North Ayrshire that day. Only by the grace of God no-one was seriously injured. Please pay full attention when using any type of cooking equipment and its critical to ensure you have working smoke detection within your home which will provide you with early warning should fire occur.”