A FATHER and son escaped unhurt after fire broke out in their North-East home.

It is understood unattended candles in a bedroom caused the blaze in Taylor Court in Carrville, Durham.

The alarm was raised at around 3pm on Wednesday afternoon and two fire crews tackled the blaze.

District manager Paul Wanless said: “The call came in as a house fire with persons reported trapped, which, for us, means there are people still inside the building.

“Fortunately, they had got themselves out. The occupier had smelled burning, searched the house to find out where it was, came across the fire in the bedroom.

“As the fire was too well developed for him to do anything, he closed the door, rightly so, and got them both out of the house.”

Two firefighters entered the house wearing breathing apparatus and fought the second floor fire from the landing.

Mr Wanless said: “It was extremely well developed by the time they got there and the temperatures were very high.

“There were flames and smoke coming out of the bedroom window.

“Firefighters had made entry and extinguished the fire but found it had also spread into the loft so we had to make entry into the loft.”

Police said the fire was not suspicious and no-one was injured.

The fire service said the incident served as a reminder of the importance of smoke alarms and how dangerous candles can be.

Mr Wanless: “The house has got working smoke alarms but they had not activated at that time because the bedroom door was closed.

“The occupiers has stated there were candles left unattended in the bedroom and that fits with the picture we have found inside.

“The damage is primarily confined to the second floor bedroom, which is severely damaged by fire.

“There is some damage to the loft and there is moderate smoke damage to the second floor.

“They have been quite lucky and rapid action from the fire crew has stopped it spreading to the rest of the house.”