A house fire started by candles has left a woman homeless today.
The 29-year-old discovered the fire when an upstairs room she was sitting in went dark because of thick black smoke filling the hall.
In her bedroom next door, a candle had burnt through a plastic box and set bedding alight.
Her smoke alarm did not go off because the electricity had been cut off and the battery had been taken out of the back-up facility.
Two Braintree fire crews tackled the blaze in Twelve Acres, Coggeshall, yesterday.
They used two sets of breathing apparatus and a thermal image camera.
One hose reel was used to put out the fire, which started at 10.20am and was put out by 10.52am.
The woman, who rents the semi-detached home, was given oxygen by the fire brigade and paramedics, but she refused to go to hospital.
Her teenage cousin and 64-year-old friend escaped unhurt.
- More in today's Gazette
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