Fire leaves family homeless
A MOTHER and two small children were left homeless this morning after a faulty television set caught light and set fire to their Colchester house.The fire broke out on the ground floor of the two-storey property in Viscount drive, Highwoods, shortly after 10am and the two youngsters, aged four and seven, rushed upstairs to inform their mother.
By Roddy Ashworth
A MOTHER and two small children were left homeless this morning after a faulty television caught light and set fire to their Colchester house.
The fire broke out on the ground floor of the two-storey property in Viscount drive, Highwoods, shortly after 10am and the two youngsters, aged four and seven, rushed upstairs to inform their mother.
One neighbour said the fire spread so quickly that by the time the emergency services arrived on the scene, the blaze had gripped the ground floor and dense smoke was billowing from the premises.
Two fire crews fought hard to contain the blaze, which was put out by around 11.10am.
“The mother was very shaken up. I heard someone saying the TV had exploded,” another neighbour said.
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A Red Cross Victim Support Unit was mobilised to the area to help support the family.
Station officer Darren Holliday, from Colchester Fire Station said: “Firefighters worked extremely well in arduous conditions to extinguish the fire as the house was heavily smoke logged.
“The fire is believed to have started by a faulty television set catching alight. The two children were in the lounge where the fire broke out.
“They ran upstairs and alerted their mum to the fire. The house also had working smoke alarms which were being activated.”
