A FAMILY has been left homeless after a blaze broke out in their living room in the early hours of this morning.

Neighbours raised the alarm at around 2.30am after the smoke alarms at the terraced house in Connaught Road, west Reading, went off and firefighters from Dee Road and Wokingham Road rushed to the scene.

When they arrived smoke was billowing out of the roof of the property and the crews believed a family-of-four were trapped inside. Firefighters with breathing apparatus conducted a thorough search of the house and found that a woman and three children had escaped.

Neighbouring houses were evacuated as a precaution while crews spent four hours dousing the flames with hose reels and using an industrial fan to clear the smoke and toxic gases but the home was left completely destroyed by the flames.

Dee Road watch manager Steve Trenery said that without the smoke alarms the family’s lives could have been at risk. He added: “This could have had devastating consequences. I honestly think they would not have survived this without smoke alarms.”

The family was taken to hospital with minor injuries and it is believed the Red Cross are supporting them.

An investigation into the cause of the fire will be conducted this morning.

Mr Trenery is urging people to make sure they have smoke alarms fitted around their homes, both upstairs and downstairs to make sure they are alerted to a fire.