SEVEN children escaped a blaze which gutted the kitchen of a house in Ryecroft, Harlow, in the early hours of Friday.
Fire crews were called shortly before 4am after a fire broke out on the ground floor. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus took more than two hours to bring the flames under control.
All the children, aged from five to 15, were treated at the scene for shock and smoke inhalation. A Jack Russell puppy was found dead by firefighters.
The fire, which wrecked the kitchen and left the rest of the house badly smoke damaged, is being treated as accidental.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested and taken to Harlow police station for questioning and later released without charge. A 36-year-old Harlow woman arrested under the Child Protection Act on suspicion of abandoning a child and neglect has been released on police bail pending further inquiries until Friday, May 23.
April 30, 2003 08:30
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