A man could have died if he had not been woken by his smoke alarm after an electric fire caught light.

Firefighters from Holt and Sheringham were called to a bungalow in Plumb's Close, Briston, on Monday afternoon.

They used a hosereel jet and breathing apparatus to deal with the fire, which had broken out in the lounge of the property.

A man who was in the room at the time escaped after his smoke alarm went off.

Stuart Horth, head of community safety at Norfolk fire service, said: 'He was asleep in a chair and an electric bar fire caught light and caused a fire in the room.

'When he woke up, the room was full of smoke. There was quite a lot of smoke to the point he was concerned he wouldn't get out, so there was a real chance he could have died.'

Mr Horth said as well as having smoke alarms, people should plan how they would escape from their homes in the event of a fire.

'Imagine waking up in a smoke-filled room with a fire alarm going off,' he said. 'You don't want to be thinking what am I going to do now, where am I going to go.'