A CHILD and his mother were lucky to escape a house blaze in which a front room became an inferno, this morning.

Fire fighters say the television, fixtures and fittings simply melted in temperatures of between 600 and 700 degrees as fire raged in the front room of the house in Raby Gardens, Hartlepool.

A four-year-old boy was downstairs, his mum, upstairs in the terraced house, when the fire was detected.

The heat was initially too intense to allow crews wearing breathing apparatus into the building.

The resident of the terraced house next door had to be given oxygen after being overcome by smoke seeping through from the burning house.

"Due to the nature of the heat we could not send breathing apparatus wearers in, initially,'' said Cleveland Fire Brigade watch manager Kevin Boffy. "The child was downstairs and is very lucky to be alive.

"The fire melted most of downstairs and there was severe smoke damage to the neighbouring property.'' The mother managed to scoop up her son and run out of the house, prior to the arrival of the fire crews at 10am.

The fire started on a settee in the front room of the house.