A malfunctioning electric blanket set fire to a bedroom in a two-bedroom flat this morning

Caversham and Dee Road fire crews were called to the fire by a mother who had fled the flat with her young child.

Firefighters were called to Branagh Court, off the Oxford Road, at 10am after a smoke alarm warned the woman the fire had started.

Crew manager Steve Collins, from Dee Road, said: "We were called by a woman in distress when she turned on an electric blanket that set fire to her bedroom.

"Both her young child and herself got out before we arrived.

"We used a carbon dioxide extinguisher and two breathing apparatus to put it out. We were there about an hour."

He called for people to check their smoke alarms still work as the winter months approach and more electric blankets will be used.

He also called for more people to fit carbon dioxide detectors as boilers can emit the gas.