Family and dogs rescued from Leigh-on-Sea house fire

A neighbour helped rescue a child from the house before firefighters arrived

A family and their two dogs have been rescued from a house fire in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Essex County Fire & Rescue Service was called to reports of three people trapped inside the house on Marine Parade at 02:33 GMT.

The family and neighbours were woken by smoke alarms as the suspected electrical fire raged downstairs.

A child was rescued by their father with the help of a neighbour before crews arrived.

A man and child were later rescued by firefighters through a first floor window.

Two dogs were also saved.

The ground floor was on fire and has been left badly damaged, and the first floor was smoke logged when crews arrived, the fire service said.

All three people were left in the care of the ambulance service.

Firefighters believed the fire was caused by an electrical fault in the fuse board.

Station manager Russ Freeman said: "This incident shows how important it is to have working smoke alarms.

"Both the residents and neighbours were woken up by working smoke alarms to a fire downstairs. This early warning gave the resident time to get his children to a place of safety where they were rescued by a brave neighbour and firefighters.

"We also rescued two dogs at the scene and the dogs, although frightened, had been protected from any smoke inhalation as they were sleeping downstairs in the kitchen and the door was shut.

"Shutting doors can really help minimise the spread of smoke during house fires. If you can make a habit of closing internal doors before you go to bed and when you leave the house, this can massively reduce smoke damage to your property if there was a fire."