A FAMILY are "lucky to be alive" after a blaze broke out in their bungalow.

Firefighters were called to the chalet bungalow in the Redinge, Billericay, just before 7pm yesterday, when it is thought some hair straighteners left on a bed began to smoulder.

The fire spread from the bedroom on the first floor and gutted the rest of the upstairs of the property, including two further bedrooms and a bathroom.

Pete Donovan, sub officer at Basildon fire station, said: "The whole of the upstairs was heavily smokelogged and the fire was in one of the girls' bedrooms.

"The breathing apparatus crews went up and they did ever so well to stop it from getting into the roof.

"They didn't have smoke alarms so they were very lucky it wasn't the middle of the night because they may not have survived."

It is believed a middle-aged couple live at the property with their children and that they have been temporarily rehoused in emergency accommodation.

Fortunately no one was injured as a result of the fire.

It took firefighters from Basildon and Billericay about half an hour to completely extinguish the blaze.