FIRE bosses have issued a festive warning after a homeowner had a ‘lucky escape’ from a ‘very dangerous’ house fire.

Roger Exley, station manager for Cumbria Fire & Rescue, has warned of the dangers naked flames can pose after a blaze left the bottom floor of a property in flames.

Crews were called to a property in Urswick, near Ulverston, on Sunday at around 6pm after a pair of curtains caught alight.

Mr Exley said: “The oil burner attached to a candle caused the fire.

“The flame then caught onto the back of the curtains which were netted and incredibly flammable.”

Mr Exley said the resident was ‘extremely shocked’ with how quickly the fire spread.

“The man was really shocked with how fast the curtains went up in flames,” he said.

“Luckily there was not a lot of material on the curtains but the damage did spread to the front room.

“It was very dangerous and the resident was lucky we arrived in time.”

Mr Exley warned the fire could have spread to the entire house ‘very rapidly’.

“It was quite a small house so the fire could have spread throughout the whole house in a very quick space of time,” he said.

“The damage to the property could have been quite significant if crews had arrived any later.”

Mr Exley is issuing a warning on the danger of naked flames, especially on the lead up to Christmas.

He said: “We see an increase in candle fires during the festive season.

“We want to remind people of the dangers of naked flames and leaving candles around the house.

“We want people to remain vigilant and have the correct smoke detector fitted.”

Crews remained at the scene for an hour and used breathing apparatus, a hose reel and a thermal imaging camera to tackle the fire.