Two brothers were killed in a house blaze in Birmingham after the smoke alarms failed to work.
Firefighters said there were no batteries in the devices.
Martin Byrne, aged 45, and his brother, Ian, aged 40, died after flames swept through the terraced house in Highgate on Saturday morning.
Their mother, Betty Byrne, aged 65, was last night fighting for life in hospital.
The fire, which left the three-bedroom property gutted, is thought to have been started by a cigarette butt.
Fire crews had been alerted by neighbours who smelled smoke and then saw flames pouring from a window.
Firefighters pulled the three people from the blazing building, but Ian Byrne died as paramedics tried to revive him. Martin Byrne died minutes later as he was being taken to Selly Oak Hospital.
Mrs Byrne, a former cleaning supervisor with the Midland Electricity Board, had lived in the house since 1980. She was taken to a specialist burns unit in Manchester in a critical condition.
Station Officer John Rees said: "With this type of fire and a working smoke alarm, you would have been able to walk out of the house and summon the fire brigade."
