TWENTY five firefighters battled for two hours to bring a house fire in Welling under control last night (September 23).

The blaze started in the loft of a semi-detached home in Wickham Street at about 11.30pm before spreading to the roof and the first floor.

It destroyed around three quarters of the roof and half of the first floor but the crews from Plumstead, Eltham, Bexley and Greenwich, managed to stop it spreading to neighbouring homes and the ground floor of the property.

The family who live in the house managed to get themselves out before fire crews arrived after being alerted to the blaze by a smoke alarm.

A fire investigation team is looking into the cause of the fire.