A SECOND fire in a week has been caused by a faulty television following an earlier blaze which could have claimed the lives of a young family.

This time the fire was in a house in Leamington Court, Wells Road, Malvern.

Firefighters were called to the blaze at 6.10pm on Monday.

The blaze was believed to have been sparked by a faulty television - just like the fire at Jayne Willis' home in Windermere Drive, Warndon, Worcester.

Two fire crews attended the blaze in Malvern - one from Malvern and one from Ledbury.

Alec Mackie, a spokesman for Hereford and Worcester fire and rescue service, confirmed that firefighters began tackling the blaze at around 6.20pm and had put it out altogether by 6.45pm using a positive pressure ventilator - a fan which disperses smoke to allow the crews to tackle the blaze more effectively.

Mr Mackie said he believed the television was an older model, possibly up to 12 years old.

He added: "We had yet another fire involving a television - the second inside a week. We have had two properties quite badly damaged by smoke, if not by fire, as a result of television sets which is not particularly common. The fire was in a groundfloor bedroom flat. It started as a result of some fault or fire inside a television set inside the bedroom. The whole flat and other flats were been severely smoke damaged. No-one was hurt and it was the occupant who raised the alarm when he arrived home from work. The next thing he knew there was smoke everywhere so he called the fire brigade."

Yesterday a family member was too upset to talk about the fire, but said it would take months' to put right the damage caused.