A FAMILY was forced to flee their Dartmouth home after a blaze broke out in one of the bedrooms and gutted part of the first floor.

Firefighters say the fire was 'accidental' but were yesterday talking to the family to work out the exact cause.

Meanwhile, next door properties in the terrace of houses in Townstal Road, were also affected as smoke got into the loft area then into the neighbouring homes.

Neighbour Christabel Cox said that the family consisting of three adults and four children aged between four and nine years had been forced to move out of the house and were now living with relatives.

"It was horrendous," she said. "There were fire engines and they cordoned off the end of my garden. It was frightening."

The 73-year-old widow had been in bed when a neighbour telephoned her to saying did she know that the house next door was on fire.

"There was smoke billowing out. It was a tremendous fire," she added.

Everyone was out of the house by the time Dartmouth firefighters arrived at the burning three-bedroom house at around 8.15am yesterday morning.

One of the bedrooms was gutted in the fire and the rest of the first floor badly damaged by smoke.

The fire had burned through the floor in one spot and there was minor fire damage to the lounge as well as water damage.

Two crews from Dartmouth and two from Brixham along with the support appliance from Totnes were called to the scene.

Dartmouth Watch Commander Kevin Langworthy said that the family appeared to have been downstairs when the fire was discovered and they had evacuated the house and called the fire brigade.

He said there had been smoke detectors inside the building but they had been disabled.

He said the fire had been 'fully developed' and smoke was pouring out of the upstairs windows by the time the first crews arrived at the home.

Because of that and the uncertainty about anyone still being in the house, the back up fire engines had been called out.

He said that while the fire had been deemed to be 'accidental' the exact cause was still under investigation.