A FAMILY of five fled from their home after vandals set fire to their front porch in the early hours of Saturday.

Three fire engines attended the blaze at a house in Rodney Street, Hartlepool, at 4.35am, and found a 45-year-old man, three women, aged 38, 20 and 17, and a three-year-old girl attempting to get out of the building.

Leading Firefighter Bob Cross, of Stranton fire station, said: "One of the family had been woken up by the fire. Firefighters aided them by helping them out of the back door."

He said the fire had been started deliberately. "It was items pushed through the letterbox. Luckily, the fire was contained just to the lobby area and it was extinguished fairly quickly.

"But it could have been much more serious for the simple reason that the house had no smoke alarm. This is why we always say to people get an alarm or test the battery of the one you have."

The porch of the house was left with fire damage and the rest of the property was smoke damaged.

The joint police and fire arson reduction team is investigating the cause of the blaze