A WOMAN and her two young children fled from their home when the property caught fire.

The home in Harrogate caught ablaze at about 2pm on Saturday afternoon, after a fire began in a first floor bedroom. It is believed it was started by retained heat from a hair dryer igniting the bedroom carpet.

Three fire engines from Harrogate and Knaresborough were called to bring the blaze under control at the house on Harlow Oval, in the Harlow Hill area of the town.

The woman and her children managed to escape from the property when a smoke alarm alerted them to the blaze.

Firefighters used breathing apparatus, hose reels, an electric fan, ladder, thermal imaging camera and hand tools to extinguish the fire and vacate the property of smoke.

There was fire and smoke damage to the bedroom and damage throughout the first floor and within the roof space.

All of the occupants of the home escaped unharmed.