A teenage girl narrowly escaped with her life after candles set her bed ablaze as she slept.

The 13-year-old woke up as flames licked at her bedding and dashed to her mother, sleeping in the room next door at their home in Cornish Close, Langney, Eastbourne.

Both ran through choking smoke to escape through the front door of their three-bed semi at 1.30am today as a neighbour tried to douse the flames with buckets of water.

He was forced to retreat by the heat and fumes.

A team of 10 firefighters spent more than an hour tackling the blaze as the mother and girl received treatment for minor burns and the effects of smoke.

Fire crews used fans to clear the building and thermal imaging equipment was brought in to ensure there was no one else trapped inside.

Officers said the girl was extremely lucky to have woken.

Sub officer Steven Courtnage, of Eastbourne fire station in Whitley Road, said: "Often people are woken by the smoke then choke to death.

"We consider this girl very lucky indeed. We would never advise people to go to bed at night with a naked flame beside them."

The family, who are believed to have had no house insurance, were today staying with friends and neighbours.

Two smoke alarms were not working because their batteries were dead.

Sub officer Courtnage said: "Had this girl not woken I'm sure this incident would have been much more serious.

"We cannot stress how important it is to check and maintain batteries in smoke detectors. Both of them could have escaped to safety much earlier had batteries been fitted."