A HEADINGTON man fled his house this morning after his shower caught fire while he was in it.

The Derwent Avenue resident said he had just finished taking a shower when he saw smoke coming from behind the electrical unit.

He isolated the power supply, and when that did not stop the fire growing he got out of the house and called 999 just before 11.30am.

Firefighters arrived quickly, donned breathing apparatus and extinguished the flaming shower using hoses.

The fire and smoke had already caused extensive damage to the first floor of the semi-detached house, but no one was injured.

Crew manger Ben Kelsey said: "The occupier was lucky that he noticed the smoke before leaving the bathroom: had he gone downstairs the fire could have developed undetected for quite some time as the property didn't have any smoke alarms.

"I would like to stress how important it is to have working smoke alarms fitted on each floor of your property and to close any doors behind you when leaving a fire in a room, to stop the smoke and flames spreading."