FIREFIGHTERS have pulled a man to safety after he became trapped inside a blazing house.

The man, who has not been named, had to be rescued after a fire spread to a two-storey home on Aspen Court, in Blackhill, Consett, County Durham, in the early hours of today.

Fire crews were rushed to the scene after several neighbours called 999 and amid reports two people were trapped inside the building.

When the crews – two from Consett and one from High Handenhold – arrived, a woman had escaped the blaze through a back ground floor window.

However, the man was still trapped inside and firefighters wearing specialist equipment had to brave the flames to pull him to safety.

Both the man and the woman were left suffering from shock and smoke inhalation but otherwise unhurt.

They then spent the next few hours in emergency accommodation – a mobile caravan quickly despatched to the scene by the British Red Cross. It was hoped they would be found alternative accommodation by tonight.

The house suffered some smoke damage.

Steve Wharton, from County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, said the brigade kept the people trapped in the house on the telephone in a bid to help them stay safe until firefighters arrived.

Unable to get out of the front door, they were advised to barricade themselves in a room at the back of the house, as far away from the fire as possible.

The fire was reported at about 4.20am. The home’s gas and electricity meters, located outside its front, were both alight. The ambulance service and the police both attended, along with the utilities authorities.

If the fire had been extinguished, a gas leak would have followed. Hence the gas was cut, allowing the fire to burn out.

Mr Wharton said the cause of the fire would be investigated but it looked as if the gas meter had started it.

A Durham police spokeswoman said the fire had begun outside the property, no-one was hurt and there were no suspicious circumstances.