Fire severely damaged the ground floor of a home in Loughborough yesterday.
Firefighters were called to Grace Dieu Road in the town at about 3.40pm.
Firefighters from Loughborough station wearing breathing equipment tackled the fire in the lounge of the semi-detached home which was heavily smoke-logged and well alight when they arrived.
The Fire Emergency Support Service vehicle was sent to the scene to assist the family who live there.
Watch manager Graham Robb, the incident commander, said they may have been alerted sooner by neighbours if the smoke alarm at the property had been working.
He said: "The battery had been removed from the smoke alarm. Had it been working, a neighbour who raised the alarm may have been alerted sooner before the fire took hold.
"Smoke alarms not only raise the alarm while people are in their homes, they can alert neighbours even if you're not in the house."
The cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit.
