People have been warned of the dangers of fires sparked by dropped cigarettes after the deaths of two pensioners.
 

Early indications suggest that the two fatal fires within four days started as a result of smoking materials.
 

Jackie Boyle, community fire safety officer for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said: “This is a very sad way for these two lives to end.
 

“The fact is that, nationally, smoking is still the biggest cause of death in accidental house fires.

“These two very tragic incidents within such a short space of time really do highlight just how dangerous it can be if cigarettes are not extinguished properly.”
 

On Wednesday at 4pm in Fairway, Copthorne, near Crawley, an 87-year- old woman died in East Surrey Hospital after suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.
 

Firefighters believe she dropped her cigarette and passed out as smoke engulfed her living room.
 

In Bognor an 82-year-old woman died in a virtually identical tragedy.
 

The woman was discovered on the floor of her home in Winston Crescent, North Bersted, last Sunday and was declared dead at the scene.