A nine-year-old boy sparked a house fire after setting fire to some felt in his bedroom and then hiding it in a cupboard.
The top floor of the house in Goring Road, Colchester, was completely damaged and left the boy's family homeless.
The house had just been sold by the family.
Aftermath - onlookers at the scene of the fire in Goring Road, Colchester
The blaze happened at about 4.30pm on Friday. Two fire crews from Colchester spent two hours putting out the fire and making sure the family was safe.
Luckily the boy ran downstairs and told his mother what he had done and she was able to run to safety with her family.
Under a new scheme set up by Essex Fire and Rescue, the boy will now be spoken to by a Junior Fire Setters Team, to discuss the implications of the fire.
The blaze, which was described by firefighters as "extremely fierce", caused extensive smoke damage and forced them to wear breathing apparatus.
Station officer Martin Avent, the man in charge at the scene, said: "It took 20 minutes to extinguish the fire but luckily no-one was upstairs.
"One bedroom was completely gutted and the rest of upstairs was heavily smoke damaged."
Published Monday October 14, 2002
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