Six newborn puppies were rescued after candles used to light a Clacton home during a power cut caused a house blaze.

A chihuahua gave birth to her puppies in the early hours of today during a power cut. The dog's owner Sheila Everitt had used candles when the electricity failed.

But the candles set light to the house leading to an emergency rescue to save the dogs. Firefighters from Clacton were called at 3am today.

The fire had started in the lounge of the bungalow in Chilburn Road, Great Clacton - where the dog and her puppies were.

Mrs Everitt said she had been getting hot water bottles for the dogs when the fire broke out and was alerted by her husband and the smoke alarm.

She was too distressed to talk further about the fire.

Sub officer John Smith of Clacton fire station said: "I think the owners got into the room and rescued the puppies but then had to shut the door again.

"When we got there, we went in with a hose reel and extinguished the fire.

"Eventually we found the dog which had escaped into another room because some doors had fallen through due to the heat."

The dog was said to be severely shocked and her hair singed by the fire.

A quarter of the house was destroyed in the blaze and the house was smokelogged.

Eastern Energy said about 1,800 homes and businesses had been affected by the power cut at 1.45am today which was due to a fault in an underground cable in the Stephenson Road West area.

She said all homes had power restored by 4.30am and apologised for disruption.

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