A FAMILY of six was forced to flee from home in the middle of the night as ten foot flames tore through the backyard.

The father, who does not wish to be named, was woken at 2am by cracking noises coming from the garden of his Oakridge Road home.

He said: “It was just the same sort of noise as if someone had a branch and was whacking the ground.

“I thought some drunk had broken into the back garden.”

Earlier in the evening he had had a friend over and the pair were smoking in the garden next to the shed.

He said that his friend left after midnight and an ember must have set fire to a cloth covered chair, slowly glowing into a blaze that engulfed the garden shed.

“I just saw flames coming up from area of the shed,” he said.

“The first thing to do was alert my partner and get the kids out.”

He ushered his four children outside and called the fire service, who arrived and put the fire out.

The family stayed the night with friends down the street Speaking of his fiery ordeal, the man said: “It was just shock – it was scary.

“I'm quite a careful person – but obviously not careful enough.”

The back of the house, including the rafters over the bathroom, were damaged in the blaze.

The guttering, the soffit and fascia were also damaged.