A MOTHER and her two teenage sons fled after being woken by the sound of exploding glass in the bathroom of their ground-floor flat.

The glass broke after a fire started in a mattress and rubbish dumped outside the property in Eastport Road, Portrack, Stockton. It burned its way into the bathroom, gutting the room. It also damaged a window of another flat and of an adjoining house.

The cause of the blaze is being investigated and arson has not been ruled out.

Station Officer Ian Dunning, of Cleveland Fire Brigade, said the trio had been lucky.

"Because they shut all the doors before they had gone to bed the fire was confined to behind the bathroom door," he said.

"It was fortunate the exploding glass woke them.''

The blaze comes as Stockton Borough Council and Cleveland Fire Brigade are pioneering a scheme to identify and clear up potential fire risks created by dumped cars and fly-tipping, to avoid such fires breaking out.

Mr Dunning said: "If, you leave mattresses and rubbish around your property it is quite likely someone can come along and ignite it.

"If they ring Stockton council they will give them advice on its safe disposal.''

In relation to the weekend's blaze, Mr Dunning said: "I cannot say at this stage whether it was deliberate. If it was, then whoever was responsible has never been involved in a fire and witnessed the devastation it causes. To do so, focuses the mind."