A WOMAN and her teenage daughter have been left homeless after a fire ripped through their house in Westcliff.

The family, who live in St Helen’s Road, were forced to escape their home after the blaze took hold after a suspected electrical fault.

Dave Lee, 65, who lives across the road from the house, said: “I had just come back from the pub when all the fire engines arrived.

“The firefighters were here for hours trying to stop it from spreading further.

“From what I could see no one got taken away in an ambulance so they got away okay in the end.

“There was a family on the bottom floor and someone who lives on the top floor.”

Other neighbours told the Echo they believed no one was injured in the blaze.

The street was plunged into darkness due to a power cut shortly after the blaze was stopped.

Essex fire service confirmed the house was now “uninhabitable”.

A spokesman said: “On arrival, fire crews found the inside of a terraced property was alight and smoke-logged. Firefighters were able to restrict the fire by 9.18pm.

“Crews then used thermal imaging cameras to detect remaining hotspots and prevent the fire spreading any further.”

Two fire crews originally arrived at the house at 6.30pm on Wednesday.

The blaze began to spread faster, and two more crews were soon called in.

Firefighters managed to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring homes.

The floorboards were ripped from the floor in order to fully extinguish the blaze.

Residents say that by the time the fire had been extinguished fully and fire crews had left St Helen’s Road, it was 2am.

Yesterday morning, fire officers came to assess the damage.

Workers have been at the scene since the night of the fire digging up the pavement to assess the electrical cabling.

The Echo contacted the ambulance service for comment on the incident and the condition of the occupants, but we didn’t receive a response before our deadline.