POOR parking almost cost a woman, trapped in a house fire, her life.

Angry firefighters are today appealing to residents to consider how they park after crews were delayed for crucial minutes getting to an emergency house fire.

Crews from Witham raced to the house fire in Greenwell Road ,Witham, where a woman was trapped upstairs.

But they were delayed reaching the scene by almost FIVE minutes due to badly parked cars on the Gershwin Estate.

They were forced to use their sirens to wake residents up and get them to move their cars.

Watch manager Andy Mott from Witham Fire Station said any delays were “frustrating” and can certainly put lives at risk.

He added: “During a house fire, seconds count, especially when there is somebody trapped inside the property.

“Any delay to an incident puts lives at risks and it’s frustrating when these delays are caused by people who park inconsiderately.

Braintree and Witham Times:

“We were really worried about the woman inside during that five-minute delay and only had one route to reach the house fire.

“Thankfully, we did reach the incident quickly and were able to rescue the woman from her bedroom.

“We had to give her first aid as she’d breathed in smoke and had burns to one of her hands.

“I would urge Witham residents to consider how they park, please consider if a fire engine or other emergency vehicle can fit through when you park.

“Bad parking puts lives at risk.”

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service released a post on Facebook showing images of how badly the cars were parked.

Crews revisited the estate a day later to see if they could fit a fire engine through the parked cars and got out to chat with those residents who had parked inconsiderately.

The team also put leaflets on cars where they could not find and give advice to the owners.

They also used the time to give home fire safety advice to residents.

Witham Fire Station is recruiting on-call firefights, to find out more about to role and to apply go to join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call.