Chef kept awake by hiccups saves guests from hotel blaze

LIFESAVING chefs sprang into action to get hotel guests out of a beauty spot hotel after noticing the building was going up in flames.

- ROBERT DALLING

Morgan Matthews and Joe Clayfield work as chefs at The View in Rhossili, close to the Worm's Head Hotel.

They were both staying at the venue in the early hours of Monday. Morgan, who was experiencing the hiccups at the time, was still awake when he noticed a fire outside the window within the lane that separates the buildings sometime before lam.

What he could see was a devastating blaze that had taken hold at the family-run Worm's Head Hotel. Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service sent six crews to the scene, which found "significant damage" had been caused to the building.

Morgan, 27, said: "It was intense, and a reactionary thing. I was lying in bed, struggling to get to sleep, because I'd had hiccups for about 20 minutes and it was driving me mad. I was searching online for how to get rid of my hiccups, and just over my phone, I saw fire. Initially, I didn't think too much, but then I went up to the window, and realised that it wasn't right."

Morgan ran into Joe's room and woke him up, and the pair set about doing what they could to help.

He explained: "Me and Joe ran out, in our pants of all things, and I dialled 999 and had the fire service on the phone really quick. The next thing on my mind was, that is a hotel and there's going to be people sleeping inside. I began banging on the windows and screaming as if I was trying to break the place down. I went round the entire building but didn't get a single response.

"I kept going up and down the perimeter, and I could see there was a window open.

"I could hear someone snoring inside, like a whistle sound of a nose.

"I was shouting from the top of my lungs 'You need to wake up and pull the fire alarm now'. He disappeared from the window and 30 seconds later the fire alarms went off.