NINE students had a "very lucky" escape after fleeing a house fire in Bournemouth this morning.

Firefighters were called to the detached property in Winton at 5.39am.

Six occupants and three guests were in the house at the time.

It was caused by a blanket that was positioned too close to a ceramic heater.

Bournemouth Echo:

Firefighters said the building was fitted with fire doors and working smoke alarms which aided their escape.

The heater had been left on overnight, however the student had only gone to sleep around half-an-hour before the blanket she was sleeping under caught fire.

Fire crews from Redhill Park, Westbourne, Christchurch and Springbourne attended along with the Red Cross Fire Emergency Support Unit from Springbourne.

Initially, only two crews arrived on the scene but an extra two were needed to tackle the growing fire.

Firefighters used four breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets and one main line to extinguish the fire and also carried out tactical ventilation.

Firefighters from Redhill Park are still on the scene along with the Red Cross Fire Emergency Support Unit.

DWFRS station manager Stuart Granger said: "The first they knew about the fire was the fire itself and that awoke them and they tried to put the fire out by smothering it but they did the sensible thing at that point and left the building straight away.

"As they were leaving, they shouted to the other students and then the smoke detector started going off which enabled them to escape."

He said the students had been “very lucky”.

The ambulance service also attended and checked over the students. No one was injured.

He added: “Effectively nine lives were saved by doing the right thing by just getting up and getting out as soon as possible and raising the awareness by shouting the rest of their housemates.

“It grew so rapidly that they had to get out that quickly and if they hadn’t have got out that quickly then the consequences well we wouldn’t like to discuss that.”

He said the room the fire started has been destroyed and the rest of the property is covered in heavy soot. The only room that survived was the kitchen as it has a fire door with a self closing device.

Mr Granger said: "The message is get out, get the fire brigade out which they did right away which was great and they responded to the smoke alarms and the shouting. If you get a chance to close the door behind you as well, that will help reduce the spread of fire throughout the premises, but can't blame them for just getting out. It grew so quickly it was important that they did that."

"Even in your domestic property, your normal bedroom door, if you just shut that it will hold the fire in check for a short period of time."

Bournemouth Council is working to rehouse the six tenants for tonight and the landlord has been made aware of the fire.