TWO people were taken to hospital following a devastating fire that has left two Barrow homes ‘not habitable’.

Firefighters were called to the scene on Primrose Road at 3.25am on Sunday (November 20) morning.

Seven fire engines hailing from Barrow, Walney, Millom, Broughton and Grange attended to the fire which affected three homes on the street.

They were also joined by two support specialist appliances – the command unit from Walney and the Arial Ladder Platform (ALP) from Barrow.

Tom Wright, Watch Manager at Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service was among the first to arrive at the scene and was the officer in charge.

He said: “When we turned up on scene we faced quite a well developed fire with quite a bit of fire spread.

“All casualties were accounted for, so there were no physical rescues made, but there were evacuations made to neighbouring properties.”

Firefighters found themselves under ‘quite hard conditions’ due to the size of the fire and the type of properties involved. The nature of terraced houses made it comparable to ‘one big property’.

“There was lots of damage and disruption caused,” said Mr Wright. “We did save one of the properties, but two of the properties are not habitable at this time due to the fire.”

Cumbria Police were in attendance to provide a cordon the scene, and to close the road. Officers liaised with witnesses and the occupiers of the neighbouring properties.

The North West Ambulance Service were also in attendance, providing casualty care and transport to hospital.

One of the casualties is said to be in a ‘serious condition’.

The fire had spread throughout the roof space of the properties, but by approximately 5.10am, the fire was under control.

Mr Wright said: “There will be a fire investigation into the cause of the fire, we’ll be working with our partner agencies to undertake that investigation.”