A COUPLE are lucky to be alive after a carbon monoxide detector in their home alerted them to a boiler leak.

Firefighters from Marlborough were called to a house on Forest Hill in Great Bedwyn at 5.25pm on Sunday, November 29.

When they arrived at the scene the two occupants had left the property after being alerted to the carbon monoxide leak.

Marlborough watch manager Wayne Presley said: “Carbon monoxide is a silent killer, you can’t see it, you can’t taste it and you can’t smell it so if the property didn’t have an alarm it could have been a different story, we could have been attending a completely different type of incident.

“When we went into the property we used air monitoring equipment which showed high levels of carbon monoxide in the property so the occupants had done the right thing in leaving the house.

“They were checked over for poising and breathing difficulties but they were both fit and healthy, they didn’t have headaches or nausea so an ambulance wasn’t needed.”

All of the windows and door in the house were opened and a ventilation machine was used to reduce the reading to zero.

A gas engineer was called to the house to make sure the boiler was safe and the occupants were allowed back in.

For more information about carbon monoxide visit www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/carbonmonoxide