A WOMAN and her teenage son were hurt after a terrifying blaze tore through their Aston Cantlow home.

The blaze in the Chapel Lane house happened just before 6pm last Tuesday.

The fire started in a cupboard which contained a boiler. A basket of clothes had been put in the cupboard with an ironing board propped up next to it.

The ironing board fell, pushing the clothes nearer the boiler.

When the boiler switched on automatically it took just 15-20 minutes for the cupboard to burst into flames.

A fire service spokesman said: "Unfortunately, a new flue had recently been fitted and the roof of the cupboard had not been put back on. This allowed the flames to shoot up to the upstairs level.

"A woman in her 40s received minor burns to her hands and feet which were treated by the Fire Victim Support Unit and her teenage son, unfortunately, lost his eyebrows because of the intensity of the heat.

"The woman's other child, a teenage daughter, was luckily studying for her A-Levels with a friend at the time of the fire so was not in the house.

"The woman and her son had tried to smother the flames but the towel they used was dry.

"They also didn't have a smoke alarm. Had they had one they would have been alerted much quicker to the danger."

The son was taken to hospital but was not kept in overnight. The mother did not need hospital treatment.