Five children rescued from house fire

Soldiers and police were quickly on the scene

Soldiers and police rescued five children and two adults from a house fire on Tyneside, which is being treated as suspicious.

Three were rescued by an army breathing apparatus rescue team at the house in Killingworth, North Tyneside.

The remaining people were taken to safety by officers from Northumbria police.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said the fire could have been started deliberately.

'Dangerous aspect'

A Green Goddess crew was scrambled to Angus Close in Killingworth shortly after 0100 GMT on Friday.

Sergeant Stephen Usher, who was commanding the Green Goddess, said: "When we arrived the police were already there and trying to put the fire out.

"They had managed to get three of the people out from the rear of the property.

"The most dangerous aspect was the amount of smoke we had to deal with.

"We used a breathing apparatus rescue team to go up the stairs and get the remainder of the people out of the house as quickly as possible."