AN ELDERLY man died following a house fire this afternoon.

Firefighters discovered the body of a man, thought to be in his 60s, after smashing their way into the blazing house in the village of Bearpark, on the outskirts of Durham City.

Crews were called to the two-storey house in Wayside Court at around 3.30pm and were told by neighbours that a man may be inside.

As smoke billowed from the building, crews used sledgehammers to force open both doors of the semi-detached house and two firefighters wearing specialist breathing apparatus searched the premises as colleagues tackled the blaze.

The fire was quickly extinguished, but the body of a man was discovered in the living room on the ground floor.

The dead man, who was thought to live alone, had not been formally identified last night.

Three fire engines and 12 firefighters responded to the emergency call and, on arrival, discovered the blaze had taken hold.

Fire service manager Steve Owers said: "There was a lot of smoke making its way around the building, but the windows were still intact.

"Inside, there was a great deal of smoke and once fire crews got inside they discovered an intense fire in the front room.

"They extinguished the fire and carried out a search of the premises, where they located a person in the front room."

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service and Durham Police immediately launched a joint investigation into the cause of the fire.

The cul-de-sac was cordoned off tonight as forensics teams began their work and investigators said it was too early to say whether the property had been fitted with a working smoke alarm.

Mr Owers said: "We are carrying out a joint investigation with the police, but it is still too early to say what the cause of the fire was.

"Over the next few days we will have community safety teams and fire crews in the area fitting smoke alarms and carrying out fire safety visits.

"I would urge people to take advantage of this free service."