Firefighters say a family made a “lucky escape” after a tea towel accidentally caught fire on their hob.

The fire service was called to their ground floor flat in Porter Way, Clacton, just after 10am Saturday, May 30.

The family’s cooker had accidentally been turned on, and a tea towel placed on top of it caught fire.

Ben Turner, watch manager at Clacton Fire Station, said the family had made a lucky escape thanks to their smoke alarm.

Mr Turner said: “If it hadn’t been for the smoke alarms the family would not have realised there was a fire and it could have developed into a far larger incident before they could take action.

“It’s important to turn your cooker off when you’re not using it and make sure nothing is left on top of it.

“Thanks to the quick actions of the family the flat has only suffered a small amount of smoke damage and everyone got out safely.”

It is understood no one was injured during the fire.