A FAMILY has been left distraught after a fire ripped through a bedroom in their St Albans home on Friday morning.

Emergency services were called to the scene in Camp Road at around 8.40am, following reports of a blaze in the first floor front bedroom.

Passers-by said they had seen smoke billowing from the property.

Two fire engines from St Albans and one from Hatfield were required to extinguish the flames, which were put out by 9am.

The road was closed off by police for several hours while crews dealt with the fire and made the area safe, before carrying out their investigations.

One person was in the house at the time of the fire, but he had managed to escape before firecrews arrived.

The man was unharmed but had to be treated for smoke inhalation by paramedics at the scene.

The children who live in the property were being taken to school by their mother at the time of the fire.

The bedroom has been left totally unusable and the heat caused the window to blow out.

Investigations have been carried out to establish how the fire started, but the exact cause was not known at the time of going to press. However it is believed to have been started accidently.