A fireworks party ended in panic when the host woke up to find a candle had set her bedroom on fire.
The woman - known to neighbours as Jenny - desperately tried to distinguish the flames with a jug of water but the blaze was out of control.
The 33-year-old fled the home she shares with her boyfriend, in Albert Street, Colchester, and sat on a wall in her pyjamas while firefighters tackled the flames.
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