Residents have described the moment a fleet of 999 crews descended on a County Durham street after a tragic blaze tore through a home.
Firefighters desperately raced inside a terraced home on Park Road, in Witton Park, on Friday (September 25) after a fire broke out just after 8am.
A man, aged in his 40s, was rescued from the house but, despite the best efforts of emergency crews, he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
The residential street was taped off shortly after, with devastating pictures showing the charred aftermath of the fire, which has left the property scorched both at the front and back.
Police at the scene of a fire on Park Road in Witton Park (Image: STUART BOULTON)
Residents have since described their shock at the flurry of 999 crews on the street, including police cars, fire engines, ambulances, and an air ambulance helicopter.
One 72-year-old woman, who lives on the street, said: “It was a bit of a shock.
"We saw the air ambulance after about 8.30am. We really only saw something when the ambulance dropped.
"It was a shock to see the ambulances and police down here, we don’t have them often. I don’t know whose house it is.”
(Image: STUART BOULTON)
Another woman who lives on the street said: “There were maybe three or four fire engines, maybe eight police cars and two ambulances and then the air ambulance landed about 9am.
"We couldn’t believe it but, to be truthful, I was inside all morning working so I didn’t see much more than that.
"You just don’t expect it, at 8am it was all quiet and then suddenly the street it so busy.
"We haven’t heard anything but it does sound like it was a nasty one. I don’t know who it was. It sounds just awful.”
Police at the scene of a fire on Park Road in Witton Park (Image: STUART BOULTON)
Another resident, an 18-year-old man, was also at home when the fire broke out: “There were about two ambulances, lots of fire down there and a few police cars doing patrol round the area and then they cordoned it all off.
"And then the air ambulance landed, it must have been about 9am.
"We’ve had a few things happen on the street where you see police but I don’t think anything as serious as this.”
Officers remain guarding the home this afternoon, although the cordon across the street has now been lifted.
(Image: STUART BOULTON)
A North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) spokesperson said: "We were called to a fire at a private address in the Woodside area of Bishop Auckland at 8.12am on Friday, September 25.
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"We dispatched a clinical team leader to the scene."
A Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) spokesperson said: “Our critical care team was activated at 8.38am to an incident in the Witton Park area of Durham.
“We had two paramedics and a doctor on board our aircraft and they arrived on scene at 8.48pm.”