Woman and children flee burning home

Firefighters from Chertsey, Staines and Sunbury spent more than four hours tackling the blaze that broke out at about 7.15pm and took hold of an upstairs bedroom.

Neighbour, Susan Hayes, was alerted by her son who said he could smell smoke. She said: "I looked out the window and saw the people sat on the wall.

"They were wrapped in foil blankets and the lady of the house looked quite charred, her face was black. She must have been very close to the fire."

Fire investigation officer Paul Kenny (pictured), was on the scene on Wednesday to try to establish how the blaze started.

Looking at the charred remains of some children's hats on the front patio, he said most people were unsure how to react in a fire, which was why his job helped educate people in preventing blazes starting in the first place.

He said: "These things are usually accidental. People actually think that because they live in a property for many years they know exactly what to do in a fire, but this is often not the case."