A FAULTY electric shower sparked a bathroom fire that caused water to pour through a pensioner’s ceiling in the middle of the night.

The 80-year-old woman, who lives in Shanklin Walk, Darcy Lever, was asleep in bed when she woke up to the smell of smoke.

When she got up, she discovered her bathroom was in flames, causing her bath to melt and destroying most of the plumbing connections. The damage caused water to pour into the bathroom and through the floor into the room below.

The pensioner escaped unhurt and called the fire service, who spent more than two hours tackling the blaze.

The fire spread to the house roof and sent smoke into the house next door.

Firefighters had to force entry to the neighbour’s house, fearing that its occupants may be unconscious from smoke inhalation, but no-one was in.

Watch commander Danny Marshall said: “It was quite an extensive fire, causing damage to the loft. All the roof timbers were quite charred. A large volume of water was coming through the ceiling into the ground floor.

“People should make sure they have smoke alarms. This lady did not have one upstairs, but she was fortunate that she woke up anyway.”