JUST days after putting the finishing touches to their dream home, a couple are counting the cost after their newly decorated flat went up in flames.

A faulty lighter is believed to have sparked the freak blaze at Lansdowne Road, Bournemouth, after leaking gas was suddenly ignited by a candle flame.

Insurance advisor Carrie Bray watched in horror as the fire took hold within seconds, melting a television set and spreading to engulf the entire contents of her first-floor lounge.

She said: “It happened so fast. I had gone into the kitchen to check dinner before returning to find the lounge in flames. It was so intense it burnt plaster off the wall.

“Our neighbours have a three-week old baby and I banged on their door before running downstairs to call the fire brigade.”

Carrie, 27, and her partner Mark Higgins, 31, who was walking their two beagles at the time of the blaze, believe the damage could cost as much as £20,000 to repair.

She said: “We’d taken down our smoke alarms because we had just finished decorating a few days earlier.

“The main thing is that everyone got out safely. We’re staying with friends until we can sort out the insurance.

“The lounge was gutted and our other rooms suffered smoke damage. There’s no way I will ever light a candle again and my advice is never to leave a flame unattended, even for a few seconds.”

Rescuers alerted at 8.45pm on Friday found smoke billowing from the flat near Bournemouth police station.

Four crews of firefighters led two people down ladders from their second floor flat and diners in a Polish bar and restaurant below were evacuated.

One person was taken to hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

Valiant Dickson, who was in the neighbouring flat with his wife Paula and their baby daughter, said: “We heard banging on the door and realised there was a fire in the building.

“We put a cloth around the baby’s face and left. Some of the people upstairs, where there was a lot of smoke, had to be taken out through a window.”