HOMEOWNERS are being warned about the risk of candles after one caused a fire on Walney this morning while a family slept upstairs.

Firefighters from Barrow and Walney were alerted at approximately 4.50am to a property fire in Plymouth Street.

On arrival, both crews found a woman and two children outside the property and a man had managed to put out a small fire near a fireplace. The cause of the fire was a candle.

The occupants had been alerted to the blaze by a smoke alarm.

A spokesman for Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service said: "Always keep an eye on candles even if they are in proper holders. They are not 100 per cent safe.

"At all times if you are getting tired then blow them out."

The crews ventilated the property before leaving the scene.