A MOTHER and her children fled from their Darlington home yesterday as flames tore through their terraced house and threatened to collapse the roof.

The blaze engulfed the family's home at the corner of Victoria Terrace and Victoria Road, just after 5pm and had soon spread to a neighbouring Indian restaurant.

Witnesses said that they saw flames and smoke rising 20 to 30 feet into the air and that one of the top floor windows exploded as the fire spread through the attic.

A team of 22 firefighters were called to the scene and a team of six used breathing apparatus to fight the flames from inside the house.

One firefighter was injured as he tackled the blaze from the second floor of the building, but he did not require hospital treatment.

The mother and her two children were led to safety and escaped unscathed.

Next door, Islam Badorul was preparing for the evening in the kitchen of his Indian restaurant, completely oblivious that the top floor of the building was engulfed by flames.

The 40-year-old was only alerted to the blaze when firefighters stormed into his restaurant and told him the roof of the building was on fire.

Mr Badorul was later taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital after having an asthma attack.

Witness Dave Gormley said: "There were flames coming up through the roof and they were ripping part of the roof off to stop the fire.

"There was lots of smoke and a big crowd, of about 30 or 40 people, had gathered outside. The road had been closed off as well."

Four fire engines and crews - from Darlington, Newton Aycliffe and Bishop Auckland - took an hour to contain the flames.

Ken Dixon, officer commanding, said the fire had started in a converted attic and had ripped through the top floor.

He said: "These fires are particularly dangerous for the firefighters to tackle because they have to go in with breathing apparatus and attack it from below.

"There is the danger of falling slates and timbers, so they are particularly tricky.

"It's too early to say what caused the fire at this stage."

Last night fire crews made several checks on the building to ensure that the fire had not restarted