Family-of-six escape house fire

A father and son had to jump from a first-floor window after a fire swept through their house on Merseyside.

Three women and a three-year-old girl also escaped the blaze, which destroyed the upstairs floor of the house in Fernhill Close, Bootle.

Three crews were sent to the scene and arrived as the men, aged 49 and 19, leapt out of the window into the yard.

Merseyside Fire Service believe the blaze started when an unattended candle set fire to a curtain.

Both men were uninjured in the fall but were taken to Fazakerley Hospital suffering from the effects of breathing in smoke.

The three-year-old girl was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital as a precaution.

Crew Manager Phil Byrne said the family had an "extremely lucky escape".

He said: "There were no smoke alarms and it was a very intense fire, the heat had taken plaster off the walls.

"The house has been destroyed."