FIRE Crews have issued safety advice after tackling a house fire in Harlow.

Firefighters from Harlow, Ongar and Epping attended The Briars at 4.31pm on Tuesday afternoon and found a fire in a first floor bedroom.

No-one was inside the mid-terrace house when the fire started but thankfully a neighbour saw the smoke and called 999.

Station Manager Richie Green said: “Crews were faced with a well-developed fire and battled really well to contain it to the bedroom.

“We believe the fire was caused by an overloaded plug socket. Plugging too many electrical appliances into one socket can lead to overheating, so please don’t take the risk.

“Unfortunately smoke had spread throughout the house so the family will have to be temporarily re-housed.

“It’s always worth closing internal doors when you leave your home to stop fire and smoke spreading so quickly in the event of a fire.”

Crews fully extinguished the fire by 5.05pm.